Remnants
by LoveMeNever
Summary: More remnants of Carol's memories start to surface. When a reoccurring woman appears in them, Carol tries to piece together what it all means and why this person evokes a vortex of emotions in her chest. Set after Captain Marvel (2019). Contains spoilers!
1. Chapter 1

Set after Captain Marvel (2019). I have never read any of the comic books and am only familiar with events portrayed in the Marvel movies, so if there are inaccuracies that will be why. I do not own anything in the Marvel Universe besides my original character and this particular story.

This first part is more like an intro than an actual chapter, so there is way more to come!

* * *

Carol tapped her finger on her leg while staring out at space. LED lights lit up the spaceship console and blinked every so often. It was peaceful out here. Three months ago, Carol stopped the Kree from eradicating the remaining Skrulls. Now, they were searching space for a place to call their own. Carol was happy to help, but she was starting to miss Earth.

More flashes of her memories were slowly coming back to her, of the life she had before the crash. She remembered much more about her best friend and their life together, and she could remember her parents a little more. High school crushes, sports accidents, first time driving a car, and joining the army. She was remembering it all.

Except for one flash of long light brown hair glowing golden in the sunlight, big toothed grin, and hazel eyes. Every time the memory surfaced, Carol got a strange feeling in her chest. It felt heavy. It was driving her just as mad as when she would have flashes of Dr. Lawson. She knew this woman, how was the question, and why did her heart drop every time she saw the remnants of the memory?

Anytime the flash came, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She could almost feel the wind whipping and the smell of salt, they were on the beach, but when she tried to focus in on the woman it never worked fully. She made out some facial features but that was all.

Footsteps interrupted her thoughts. She recognized them as belonging to Talos almost immediately. He had a heavy walk that you tended to hear way before he arrived. "What's up, Talos?" She said right as he entered.

He rolled his eyes, "How did you know it was me?"

"Because I know everything. Obviously." Carol retorted with a smirk.

Talos pursed his mouth and gave her a pained expression. Walking over to the console, he fidgeted with some of the glowing buttons and touch screen pad. "How far away from CFR-700 are we?"

Carol frowned, she could feel the anxiety radiating off of him and empathized with him. The past few weeks, all the Skrulls were getting anxious to find a home. Morale was low since the last two planets with a good atmosphere and seemingly habitable lands ended up having hidden dangers that none of them would have expected. Both occasions, Carol managed to wrestle the dangerous creatures away from the Skrulls, but if she had tried to leave, they would have slaughtered the refugees. And so, the search continued.

Luckily, the Kree had not followed them so far. Carol hoped that damn AI was destroyed for good and the Kree could be free from its influence and change their ways, but that was way too good to be true.

She glanced at the coordinates on the console in front of her, "We're only about 14 hours away. You should spend some time with your family until then. I'll let you know if anything changes, I promise."

Talos seemed to relax and he smiled in appreciation, "Alright, thank you." He turned and walked away, leaving Carol alone again.

As much as she wanted the company, Carol thought it would be better for everyone if Talos relaxed more. She kicked her feet up on the side of the console and leaned back. It would still be hours before making any kind of contact with CFR-700, so she closed her eyes and let sleep take her.

_"Come on! This way!"_

_"Slow down! God, you're not leading me to my death, are you?"_

_"Hmm, only one way to find out…"_

_Carol smiled and let herself be dragged off by this person she completely trusted. There was something over her eyes covering them completely, so a small part of her was a little anxious._

_"Okay, you ready?"_

_She only nodded, and felt the person lift the piece of cloth off her eyes. At first she couldn't see anything with the bright sun shining into her eyes, but as they got adjusted, she gasped at the sight before her. She was on top of a cliff overlooking the beach and the sun was setting casting a beautiful orange color on everything._

_She glanced over and saw a woman, her long brown hair was glowing golden around the edges as the sun hit her, her hazel eyes showing all the beautiful colors in them, and her mouth was in a huge open grin. There were light freckles over her nose and on her cheeks, but they were easy to miss with the woman's skin already being a darker shade._

_Carol felt a hand wrap around her upper arm and hold tight as the woman came closer leaning her head against hers in a side hug. She leaned into the embrace and took in a deep breath, completely content to stay like this for a while._

A jerk startled Carol into the real world again. Her eyes felt a little groggy as they darted around finding the source of the motion. The ship had entered a field of asteroids, Carol grabbed the manual controls and quickly evaded a fast approaching rock, Talos rushed into the room with a few others and immediately began shouting out orders for people to take their stations. "Where did this field come from? It's not showing up on any of the radars!" He asked heatedly.

Carol checked the sensors and found he was right, they weren't popping up on any of them. That got Carol thinking. "Transferring controls over. I'm going out there," she hopped up from her seat and nodded once to Talos, trying to reassure him.

She stepped into the airlock and waited for the pressure to lift until it was safe to open it. She felt gravity flip on her and she used her powers to fly out into space. A particularly large asteroid was aimed at the ship, so she went up to push it away, but when her hands extended out they were met with nothing. The image of the asteroid flickered any time her hand passed through, but there was nothing actually there. This was a hologram field of asteroids. Carol's brow creased in confusion. What was it doing in the middle of nowhere in space?

Flying ahead, Carol scoped out the area. The hologram asteroids were passing through her body as she flew further into the field. What is that? A glimmer of light caught her eyes, curiosity got the better of her and as she got closer the surrounding asteroid field disappeared along with the illusion of endless space. In front of her was no longer asteroids, but a planet with blue, red, and green surfaces. She narrowed her eyes, there shouldn't be a planet out here but here one was hidden amongst the fake asteroid field. She flew closer making sure it would be safe for the ship to also fly closer.

When she was satisfied there wouldn't be any offensive action for approaching, Carol flew back to the ship and entered the airlock. She ran to the control room where Talos was looking anxious. "What the hell is going on out there?" He asked while eyeing the asteroids closely.

"They're fake. It must be some sort of defense system because there's a planet up ahead." She explained.

Talos shook his head, "But there shouldn't be a planet out here!"

"Well, there is. Don't you think it's worth looking into?" Carol raised her eyebrows and watched Talos' internal battle with investigating more or continuing on their path to CFR-700. "If this planet isn't on any maps or radars, it could be perfect for your people, Talos. I promised to help you and protect you while you searched for a home. Let me do that."

Finally, Talos sneered and turned to his men, "Let's prepare the defense systems but set a course to land on that planet," he turned back to Carol. "I hope you're right about this."

Carol nodded at him and watched the planet come into view once they were past the holograms of asteroids. They entered the atmosphere relatively smoothly, and they were met with no cannons or guns or energy beams, which was a good sign so far. The ship landed in a forest-like area. The trees here were beautiful and colorful, nothing like what was on Earth. On the ends of the branches were small lights that lit the area up. Talos and the rest of the Skrull looked out of the window in marvel.

The automated voice in the ship's system started running numbers, then said, "Air pollution clear, air: breathable. Planet water system, clear, water: safe. Atmosphere status: strong."

"You guys stay here, I'm going to go check things out. Keep the comms up and I'll let you know when it's safe." Carol told the Skrulls as she left the ship for the second time.

The ship had done an accurate air test because when she walked out of the ship the clear air hit her face and she was able to safely breathe it. She walked for a few minutes in a random direction just to scope it out more. This planet was beautiful, and no sign of any dangerous threats lurking, yet. There were a few animals scurrying through the trees but the scanner that Talos helped install on her suit was not picking up any threatening signatures from them. Some of them resembled squirrels and rabbits from Earth, in fact.

_"Oh my God, it's a squirrel!" An excited voice said._

_Carol looked around confused, she was the only one out here. Her scanners weren't picking up any other life forms other than the small creatures around her._

_"Don't get too close. Those things can be vicious in the wild." Carol heard her own voice say. She turned around checking every direction to make sure she wasn't just hearing things._

_"It's a squirrel," the woman's voice deadpanned. "Look at how handsome he is!"_

_Carol was suddenly back on Earth, in a park with a woman with brown hair wearing black skinny jeans, a dark blue plaid shirt, and blue converse shoes. Her face was blurry, but Carol watched her crouch down and pull out a notebook and pencil to start drawing the animal._

_The blonde felt herself smile, and gaze at the crouched woman affectionately._

_"Wow, only you would get a squirrel of all things to pose for you," Carol quipped. The woman looked back at her, her face still blurry, but Carol could almost feel the sly smile._

_"He wouldn't be the only one." Carol felt her cheeks flush, "Now stop distracting me!" The other woman laughed. Carol bit back a sarcastic response, laughed, and continued to watch the squirrel. It was actually standing up on its hind legs sniffing the air and staring at the drawing woman._

_After a few moments the squirrel ran away and the woman stood, showing Carol the drawing. "Got most of it before he left, what do you think?"_

_The drawing was actually quite impressive for just a minute or two worth of time. The woman was becoming quite good at impromptu sketches. She grinned a huge toothy grin as she showed Carol the picture._

_"It's perfect."_

Carol shook her head, it was another remnant of a memory. She felt a smile on her lips, the memory was a happy one just like the other had been, and it featured the same woman from before too.

"Lifeform detected-" the scanner on Carol's arm spoke suddenly breaking her thoughts and snapping her back to the new, and possibly hostile, planet.

She felt a cold object press to her back and she rolled her eyes. "Put your hands up! Who are you?" A voice behind her demanded.

Carol turned slowly while her hands were in the air, she'd comply until she found out who or what she was dealing with. Once she turned around she was staring into the face of a Skrull she didn't recognize. There were a few more surrounding her all of them holding energy guns. "You're Skrull? What are you doing here?"

He looked confused for a moment, "What do you mean? I'm asking the questions here, and you're in our home!"

"Home? Oh thank god!" She almost dropped her hands but put them back up quickly when they all growled at her. "No you don't understand, I came here with more of your people. With General Talos. We've been searching for a home for them."

"Talos? That's impossible. Talos would never trust someone like you. Groala, what's your status?" The leader of the group of Skrulls asked in his wrist communicator.

"You better come see this, boss." Another voice across the comms said.

The lead Skrull nodded to his men and waved his gun to the side indicating for Carol to follow them. She did as he wanted her to do because she knew once they saw the other Skrull, everything would be solved. They walked back in the direction of the ship and Carol was relieved to see Talos talking with one of the Skrull apart of this new group.

"Are you Drago?" Talos said when he saw the leader approaching. "My name is Talos. You can let her go... she's been helping us, she's a friend." He nodded at Carol.

The one called Drago dropped his gun and glared at Carol still, but it seemed he wouldn't be shooting her for now. She relaxed and gave him an "I told you so" smirk. Talos and Drago clasped hands together.

"General Talos, the last I heard you were in search of the FTL engine. What happened?" Drago asked, while eyeing Carol and the ship they arrived on.

Talos shifted in his stance and glanced back at ship when slowly, one by one, some of the others were emerging from the hangar. His wife and daughter locked eyes with him and then his wife searched fearfully around them, unsure of if it was safe to come out. The general waved for them to come to his side. "Is there perhaps somewhere safe we can go to talk? We've been travelling for months."

Drago smiled at Talos' daughter then back up at Talos, "Of course. Follow me."

Carol could tell Talos felt a weight lifted off his shoulders at discovering his own people here on this planet. The local Skrull led them to their settlement that was basic in design, they clearly had not been here longer than a couple years. There were huts built at the base of rocky and hilly terrain. It took them awhile to track down into the territory, but once they did they convened at a large hut like structure built into the side of a hill.

It was mentioned the hut belonged to Drago, who had apparently found this planet and led a handful of refugees here with him. They all sat around Drago's table with his wife and his children were playing outside with Talos' daughter and the other children on the ship.

After Talos and Carol explained the situation about their meeting, Mar-Vell, failed attempts to settle anywhere, and discovering this planet, Drago seemed to trust them more.

"We've been searching everywhere…" Talos said emotionally after finishing his story.

"Your search is over. We call this planet Dara, it's got it's dangers, like any planet, but we've made it our home. It can be yours too."

"Yeah, quite a defense mechanism you've got." Carol stated referring to the asteroid field.

Drago tilted his head, "You mean the asteroids? Yes, it's kept us hidden for the most part. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to build any other defenses in the short time we've been here."

"We may be able to help with that. If we take some of the equipment from Mar-Vell's lab, we can build more defenses." Talos looked over to his 'science guy' for approval and received a nod from him.

Drago and Talos eagerly exchanged more ideas on how to better prepare themselves and rebuild a home for their people. They ate and drank together for hours, and when Carol had grown tired, she left the hut. Outside the children were still playing. They played a game with a table and a few balls, it seemed the goal was to get the balls in the other teams holes. Not unlike pool. Carol stared at the scene in front of her and had another memory come back to her.

_Maria, Carol, a few of their friends from base, and a woman with brown hair were all sitting at a big table at Pancho's bar. They were celebrating Maria's birthday. Everyone already acted like fools because of the rounds of drinks they had. When Maria and another friend of hers by the name of Anthony challenged Carol and the brown haired woman next to her to a game of pool, her competitive side couldn't resist._

_The rules were losers had to buy the winners another round of drinks along with bragging rights, of course._

_"Sam and I are going to beat your asses, just wait!" Carol yelled over the music and watched as Maria tried to line up her shot._

_"Pah! Put your money where your mouth is Danvers!" Maria laughed and hit two solid colors into the holes. She raised her hands in the air and did a little dance. "Don't be too scared now, Carol, we'll go easy on you two!" She taunted._

_Carol grinned and glanced at the brown haired woman named Sam who rolled her eyes. "Oh we're screwed," Sam said and took a big gulp from her beer. "What have you gotten us into?"_

_"Oh relax! I'm a pool mastermind, okay?" Carol defended while grabbing a pool stick and readying herself._

_Sam rolled her eyes, but had a smile on her lips still._

Carol was brought back to reality by Talos clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Carol! I cannot thank you enough for helping us get here."

"It was the least I could do, Talos." She said genuinely, although her mind was still lingering on the memory, and especially now because she knew the woman she kept seeing was named Sam.

"Will you stay for a while?" He finally asked.

Carol nodded, she would stay as long as she needed to, to reassure herself that they would be safe on this planet. It appeared to be promising enough, but just in case there was any lurking danger she'd stay a bit longer. "Yeah, of course I will. My job isn't done yet! Gotta make sure you don't get into any more trouble." She exclaimed while punching his shoulder lightly.

"What about Earth? Think it'll be safe enough without you?"

"I think they can manage without me for now. And I'll return eventually. One thing at a time though, Talos."


	2. Chapter 2

Six months passed since Talos, the refugee Skrull, and Carol landed on Dara. Things had quieted down quite a bit and the Skrull were starting to rebuild their lives. Carol felt a sense of pride that she could be part of helping the Skrull rebuild. But the longer she stayed, the more she felt that she was no longer needed.

Talos included her in many things, and she went on a few missions to find more Skrull refugees, but overall they were handling things fine without her. When she came to that realization, she had told Talos as much and at first he wanted Carol to stay longer, but eventually he saw her point. Unable to say goodbye, she told him she would be back to check on them and if he needed her at all, to use the communication system built into her suit.

That was a few days ago now. It didn't take her long to travel back to Earth thanks to her abilities. The first place she found herself was at Maria's. It was evening and the sun was setting. She hoped her best friend would be home and not at work.

Outside the door, Carol hesitated to knock. Part of her was dreading seeing her best friend again because a whole year had passed since she told Maria and Monica that she'd be back before they knew it. Admittedly, she knew they probably understood that helping an alien race find a home world would take time but she still felt guilty.

She sighed and knocked three times. _Might as well get this over with… _she thought. No one came immediately to the door, but after a few moments of standing there awkwardly it swung open revealing a wide-eyed Maria. "Well, look what the flerken dragged in!"

Carol felt a huge grin erupt from her face at the sight of her best friend who luckily, seemed more surprised than anything to see her. "How is Goose?"

"Still a flerken, whatever that is exactly, but it's with Fury. He's taken on that responsibility." Maria stood to the side letting Carol pass. The two made some small chat before settling down on the couch facing each other.

The blonde had her feet tucked on the couch and her arm on the back of the couch. Maria had a similar position as well. They laughed as they enjoyed a beer together. Maria had made sure to scold her best friend for her absence the last year.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But I _did _promise to be back, didn't I?" Carol quipped.

Maria rolled her eyes, "Okay next time we'll have to make how long you're going to be gone more clear."

"Where's Lieutenant Trouble?" Carol asked, realizing she hadn't seen the young girl at all since she'd been back. Normally, the girl made her presence very known. Now, the house was quiet, save the two women talking and laughing together.

"She's with her grandparents. They've been planning a trip to the beach, and I need to work, so I told them just to go ahead without me. Plus, now that you're here it's probably a good thing I didn't go, or you'd send out a search party for us." Maria laughed at the last part, and Carol feigned ignorance. "I would never do that!" The blonde had said.

Carol added a quick, "How is she?"

Nodding several times Maria answered. "She's a rockstar. Misses you like hell," at the last part Maria lightly punched Carol's outstretched arm on the back of the couch.

They fell into a comfortable silence until Carol bit her bottom lip in deep thought. "Hey," She started while setting her beer down. "You still have my things, right?"

Maria nodded, "Of course! Let me go get the box." She stood and retreated up the stairs. It only took her a moment to come back down the steps and drop a cardboard box in front of Carol who started rummaging through it. "What are you looking for?"

"Pictures mostly. I've started having flashes of someone named Sam? She seems important." Carol explained while going through some of the old pictures.

Her best friend's eyes darted to the box and then to some of the pictures Carol was looking at. "Hmm, Sam… oh! Samantha Pierce! Yeah I remember her, I only met her once because you brought her to the party we had at the bar, but you talked about her sometimes. Hang on…" Maria grabbed a small book from the box that had even more pictures in it. She flipped through the pages with photographs placed in little sleeves until she found what she was searching for.

"Here! That's you and Sam at the bar that night." She handed Carol the book showing her the picture.

Carol was standing beside Sam, both women holding a beer, and both had a big toothy grin. Sam stood a few inches shorter. She flipped to the next page and found another picture of them, this one was taken right after the first with Carol and Sam facing each other in a fit of laughter. Sam's face was wrinkled from smiling so big and her eyes were squinted in happiness. Carol saw herself equally as happy. She smiled down at the picture.

"_Oh my God! My beer is everywhere!" Carol couldn't believe Sam had actually tapped the top of her beer bottle with the bottom of hers causing the beer to foam up and explode out of the bottle. She started laughing at Sam trying to contain her giggles. The camera flashed. _

"_You should've seen your face!" Sam said in between laughter, her face was going red from it. "Please tell me you got that on camera!" _

_Maria took the photo out and waved it around getting it to develop faster. She glanced at it, "Damn! A second too late!" _

_Sam took the photo from her and examined it, squinting her eyes because it was not quite developed yet. "Aww, well I tried." She gave Carol a sly grin and twisted her body back and forth innocently. _

"_You're an asshole. I'm glad it wasn't caught on camera!" Carol couldn't help but laugh at the situation and playfully shove Sam's shoulder. _

As Carol stared down at the photo she touched her lips in thought, "I remember this day… it was your birthday and we went bowling after this too, right?"

Maria nodded and smiled in remembrance, "Yeah, one of the best birthdays ever. Besides busting my ass on the bowling aisle because we were all very drunk by that time. You had insisted that we do something extravagant because I told you birthdays were never a huge deal when I was little."

Carol laughed, she knew that sounded exactly like something she'd do. "So… who is this Sam girl?"

Maria pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders slightly, "Well, like I said that was the first day I ever met her. You came up to me and asked if you could bring a friend with you, and of course, I had no problem with it. You said you met her when you were younger and had recently reconnected, but that's all you told me."

The blonde nodded slowly and furrowed her brow trying to remember anything useful. It bugged her that she couldn't remember, and the only reason it was eating away at her that much was because of the strange ache in her chest. It was different from seeing flashes of Dr. Lawson. She admired Lawson and felt a strong urge to figure out who she was because the Skrull had been after her as well, but it didn't go beyond that. Whoever this Sam person was, it felt way more personal, she missed her.

"You okay?"

Carol blinked several times and nodded, "Oh yeah, just… thinking."

Maria gave her a stern glare and crossed her arms. Carol knew that look. It was the look of a mother scolding or trying to get information out of a child. "You might be an all-powerful superhero now, but I still know you enough to know something is wrong."

She sighed in mock annoyance then smiled, "Fine. It's just so frustrating that I can't remember everything about my life here. It's coming back slowly, and I've noticed certain things will jog my memory, but…" Carol sighed deeply, she wasn't sure how she could explain how any of it actually felt. If Sam was just a friend then why did she miss her so much? And why did she get butterflies in her stomach when a memory of her came to mind?

"I'm sorry, Carol. I know it must be pretty tough feeling in the dark about your own life." Maria touched her shoulder in a reassuring gesture which she appreciated. "Wait. She's not an alien like Mar-Vell, right? Because I don't know if I can handle another situation like last year," she joked, lightening the mood some.

Carol snickered, she highly doubted that was the case but then again she couldn't be completely certain. She sarcastically said, "Can't imagine why, we had fun last year! Real best friend bonding time. And you got to go to _space_, remember?"

Her best friend laughed for a moment and then seemed to have an epiphany. "You know what? Let's find Samantha and you can ask her all the questions you want! You started remembering things when you came and found me, so maybe it'll be the same." She opened a drawer in a little stand by the couch and pulled out a phone book.

The amount of admiration Carol had for Maria increased tenfold, she was so lucky to have a best friend like her.

"Okay… well the good news is, I found a Samantha Pierce. The bad news is, there's eighteen of them within a hundred mile radius. Let's start calling." Maria shrugged and picked up her long corded phone from the same table she pulled the phone book out of. "While I'm calling, check the web for any Samantha Pierce's. It'll take a minute to start up the computer and web, but then you should just be able to search it."

Carol nodded and walked over to the huge computer, grimacing at the loud fan sounds and strange clicking noises coming from the inside. She still couldn't believe how far behind technology on Earth was. And Maria had not been kidding when she said it could take a while to start up.

"Two hours later…" she muttered when the screen finally opened to a search bar. She awkwardly typed "SAMANTHA PIERCE" into the search bar and pressed the enter key.

The first result was of an Arts studio for all ages. She clicked on the blue link and waited, what felt like 10 solid minutes, for the web page to load up. Once it did, Carol saw the studio was a learning center for all things considered the arts. It offered voice lessons, music lessons, sculpting lessons, and painting/drawing lessons.

She scrolled down the page and noticed a little corner down at the bottom listed all the instructors. _Bingo! _Samantha Pierce was listed as the painting and drawing teacher. It had a blurry image of her next to her name. "Hey Maria, I think I've got something!" Carol called into the living room where Maria was still calling numbers.

The other woman came in and leaned over Carol's shoulder to stare at the screen. "An art studio?"

"Look-" Carol pointed to the name listed, "it's Samantha Pierce, she's an instructor here."

"Well I'll be damned… investing in a home computer wasn't a total waste then," Maria chuckled.

"This thing is too damn slow," Carol waved her hand at the bulky machine, and Maria nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

Maria traced her finger over the screen where an address was listed, wrote it down on a sticky note, "That's the address."

Carol stared down at the note and read the address. She felt anxious about it now that she actually had a lead to potentially find Sam and being able to ask her questions about who she was to her. "Thanks, Maria. This means a lot."

"Now, let's grab food before I starve. There's a local place that makes the best burger you've ever had." Maria's eyes got wider trying to emphasize how good the burgers were.

Carol agreed to go thinking it would be a good distraction for now. And spending time with Maria was always a blast, anyways. They took Maria's camaro even though Carol insisted she could just fly both of them there. "That's the ultimate cheat." Maria had argued, so eventually Carol gave it up and let herself be driven like a barbaric. She made sure to tell Maria the barbaric part too, which earned her a death glare.

The local place Maria referred to was a hole-in-the-wall looking shack with a huge neon burger light over the door. Carol glanced at her friend skeptically, "This place? Really?"

"Yes really, these places are the best kind!" Maria exclaimed, "Just come on." She chuckled at the face Carol made and got out of the car.

Reluctantly, Carol followed her friend inside and was pleasantly surprised that the inside was much cleaner than the outside. It was a seat yourself place, so Maria led Carol to a booth by the window. Shortly after they sat down the waitress came over and took their drink order and Maria went ahead with ordering two of their house special burgers.

"Less wait time." She had reasoned, "And you'll love it trust me!"

Carol chose to trust her friend on that one. She noticed out of the corner of her eye someone with long brown hair and a stature similar to Sam's. Her head turned twice in a double take, but after closer examination, she realized it wasn't the woman from her flashes.

The restaurant morphed before Carol's eyes to a slightly different color and there were ghosts of people in booths that weren't actually there. She furrowed her brow.

"_God how many pancakes can you eat, woman?" Carol heard herself ask the person sitting across from her. _

_Sam's face glanced up at her, "As many as you put in front of me." She said with a wry smile. Carol really had no idea how she was as tiny as she was with an appetite like that. "Well stop staring at me, geez." _

"_I can't, I feel like I'm witnessing something groundbreaking here," Carol quipped earning a glare from the other woman. _

_Sam wadded up her straw paper and threw it at Carol. It bounced off her arm and landed in her drink. "Hey!" She gave Sam a surprised face and couldn't suppress her laughter as much as she tried. _

"_It's what you deserve!"_

"Ma'am?"

Carol noticed her food was now in front of her so she turned her head to the waitress who was waiting on something. "Sorry, what?"

"Did you need a refill on your drink?" She asked patiently while gesturing to Carol's half empty glass.

"Oh! Yes, thank you." Carol could almost still see the wadded up straw paper still in her drink, but she knew there was nothing _actually _there.

Maria was giving her a skeptical eye. She waited until the waitress was gone to ask, "Did you see another memory?"

She nodded and took a bite of her burger, "Yea- holy shit, you were right about this place!" Carol mumbled due to the burger still in her mouth.

Maria nodded and shot her an 'I told you so' look while she took a huge bite of her own burger. "What did I tell you?"

"Sorry I doubted you! Anyways, yes, I was remembering a time when Sam and I were somewhere sort of similar to this place…"

"So no clues?" Maria's eyebrows turned upward.

Carol shook her head, "Other than if you consider her huge appetite for pancakes a clue, then no." She sighed.

"Hey, I'm sure things will start making sense when you meet with her." Maria placed a reassuring hand on her arm from across the table. Carol nodded hoping her friend was right.

Out of the corner of her eye, Carol saw a man dressed in all black and wearing a black fedora with sunglasses on… in a restaurant. He sat in a booth across on the other side of the room. The way he held the menu up to his face was also very peculiar. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he retreated further behind the menu.

Carol stood abruptly and walked over to him confidently. She snatched the menu away from his face, revealing none other than Nick Fury. "Fury. I see you haven't gotten much better at the covert part of your job."

Fury sighed in defeat and pursed his lips, "And neither have you." He retorted. "Do you know how many people reported seeing a "strange glowing thing' flying in the sky?"

She sat down opposite Fury and her eyes went to the right, "So?"

"So?" He repeated, "So that means my bosses sent me here to tell you to turn the light show off."

"And here I thought you missed me," she pouted. "How did your bosses even know it was me? Could've been anything!"

"There's only one strange glowing flying thing that we know of," he hesitated. "...There also might've been a very clear picture with you flying in it. Cameras these days are getting clearer and clearer." The last part he muttered more to himself.

Carol shrugged, "What's the problem?"

Fury took off his sunglasses revealing one eye to have a patch over it which Carol wrinkled her face at. Had Goose's scratch really done that much damage to Fury's eyes? "The problem is we don't want a public panic that we have been visited by _aliens_." He whispered the last part so no one in the restaurant would hear.

"Ah, don't worry next time I'll fly faster!" Carol jested, she enjoyed pushing Fury's buttons. "Since your cover has been blown, come join us. We can catch up."

Fury and Carol went back to the table with Maria who seemed amused at the whole situation after Fury explained why he was even there.

"Things have gotten _real _sensitive at S.H.I.E.L.D since the Skrull invaded. They've been on extra high alert. Mostly because when you and Talos left, there were a few of Talos' soldiers left that we thought were dead. They banded together and starting infiltrating the higher ups to find information about us." Fury explained.

"Do you know where they are? I can get them into contact with Talos and he'll call them off." Carol asked now in serious mode.

"Well that's the problem, we don't know who they have shapeshifted into," Fury sighed and leaned forward on the table stealing a few fries from Carol's plate. "By the way, if you're back I assume that means you found them a home world?"

She narrowed her eyes at him threateningly and swatted his hand away. "Yes, they found a place to settle down. Somewhere safe. But if I can help you find these rogue Skrull, I'm sure I can convince them to leave and rejoin their people."

Fury stood, "I'll keep in touch then. Try to lay low, for my sake."

Carol grinned as Fury walked away. "By the way, I dig the patch." Carol said while pointing to the eyepatch over his eye.

Fury smirked confidently, "Everyone does."

After the two women finished eating they went back to Maria's house. Carol knew the art studio would be closed at this hour so Maria insisted she stay the night. She complied and put a few blankets on the couch to sleep on. It took a few minutes for her to shut her brain off because hearing that they left behind a few Skrull soldiers was an unpleasant feeling.

Between the Skrull and potentially meeting Sam tomorrow, Carol was starting to get a tad worried. She sighed and turned to lay on her side hoping to get more comfortable. Eventually, sleep crept up and she closed her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

_Carol stared at the canvas, her brushstrokes were thick and uneven, and the colors melded together in an unpleasant way. She used a variety of blues, yellows, oranges, and purples but her goal of creating a sunset casting shadows over the mountains went horribly wrong. Now, the canvas was a mess of colors. _

"_I told you painting was not my strong suit," she pointed out to the woman standing over her shoulder observing her masterpiece. They were in a small studio apartment with paintings hung up on the walls. The canvas was set up in the corner by a window and Carol sat on a stool directly in front of it._

_Sam stared at the canvas in a perplexed way, "There are truly no words…" she said while raising her eyebrows. "So you should definitely stick to flying planes."_

_Carol shoved her playfully and feigned hurt. "You have to admit it's unique, though."_

_The brunette chuckled cutely, "Yeah, _unique _would be one way to describe it." She stared at it a bit longer, "Hmm, maybe it's growing on me?" _

"_See, I'm a true artist," she tipped her chin up and closed her eyes. She could _feel _the eye roll Sam gave in response. _

"_Why do I put up with you?" She asked while staring into Carol's eyes. There was the slightest of smiles on her lips, and Carol felt her face heat up and heart pound from the intensity of Sam's eyes. It didn't help that her eyes were absolutely beautiful. She likened the feeling to being stared at by a celebrity crush. _

_Part of her wanted to look away, but her dangerous side wouldn't let her. Finally, Sam cleared her throat and averted her eyes. Carol watched as the smaller woman grabbed her sketchbook and pencils from the table. She sat down in front of Carol. _

"_Alright, stay still." She demanded and her brow furrowed in a deep focus. _

"_Bossy." _

Carol stood on the sidewalk in a busy little town in Louisiana. Across the street was an older rundown building with a shop and bakery attached on either side. There was white paint on the windows that read _Learning Arts Studio_ and an open sign was blinking above the door. _So this is the place… _she thought. She stared down at the sticky note Maria had given her of the address it had only taken her an hour by car to get to. After her conversation with Fury, she figured flying would just make his life more difficult and Maria had been happy to let her borrow the camaro.

Her heart rate was faster than normal as she walked across the street, and she was psyching herself up for whatever was to come next.

Carol walked into the art studio in her very signature confident manner, even though she was a nervous wreck on the inside. The studio was quiet besides a piano playing and faint voices singing along somewhere near the back of the building. She glanced down the hall, the building was bigger than it looked from the outside. The walls were white with art pieces hung up to throw splashes of color here and there. The paintings were quite beautiful.

The receptionist held Carol with a curious gaze, "May I help you?" She asked politely. She was an elderly woman with stringy blonde hair and glasses at the end of her pointed nose.

"Yes. I'm looking for Samantha Pierce." Carol stated simply and put her hands on the tall wooden counter. She glanced at the receptionist name plate on the counter, her name was Anna.

"Oh, are you one of the new students?" Anna asked in a sweet voice.

Carol wrinkled her nose a bit, "What? No, no I'm not. I'm just looking for Sam… uh, Samantha. Does she work here?"

"Yes, but she's in a class right now. If you want to speak with her you'll have to come back later I'm afraid."

Carol had to admit she was a little disappointed to hear that, but she had nothing better to do than sit around and wait. Well, besides stopping the remaining Skrull. "How long will it be?" She asked, she silently hoped it wouldn't be long, she was eager to get this mystery solved.

"It will be about fifteen more minutes. Give me a moment and I'll let her know she has someone waiting for her, okay? What name can I give her?" Carol panicked, she wasn't sure if giving her name would be the best idea considering she had no clue how this interaction would go and she technically was pronounced dead 7 years ago.

"Oh, um… I'm actually an old friend of hers trying to surprise her…" she said slowly, coming up with the excuse on the spot. _Technically it's not a lie, though. _

Anna smiled, "How lovely! In the years Sam has worked here she doesn't get many personal visitors… but I'll just be a moment!" She stood and walked hunched over down the hallway where many doors were located, Carol assumed they were classrooms. Anna went into a room far into the hallway on the right and then came back out a few seconds later. "Okay I let her know for you, dear!"

"Great, thank you! I'll just wait here." She say down on one of the wooden benches that had comfortable red cushions. For a few moments she just sat there staring around at the studio before Anna smiled at her and said, "How long have you known Miss Samantha?"

"Oh um," _I have no idea_, she thought. "A little while now." She answered vaguely.

Anna smiled and began in a reminiscent voice, "I remember when I was about your age, my best friend Han surprised me at a play I was in by throwing flowers on the stage for me… it was so thoughtful…"

Carol smiled too, she loved when older people told stories about a time in their life. She thought this Han character sounded more like someone trying for her affection, though."That sounds very nice!" she said. They fell into silence again for a bit. "Where is your restroom?" Carol glanced around seeing if she could find the restroom sign, but it was nowhere upfront as far as she could tell.

Anna pointed down the hall, "It's just down the hall and to the left. It'll be the first door on the right."

Carol nodded in appreciation and went down the hall, she slowed her steps as she walked near the door she had seen the receptionist go through. She pulled down on her S.H.I.E.L.D cap Fury had given her, and peered into the room. Luckily the door had a long rectangular window, so she could see well into the room. It was an art room with canvases set up and young and older people were all painting at a station while a woman was walking around checking their work. Carol's breath hitched in her throat, it was the woman from her flashes of memory, Samantha Pierce, or Sam, as she had heard herself call her in her flashes of memories.

She looked relatively the same as Carol saw her in her memories. She wore jeans and a flowing black shirt, and her hair was pulled back in a messy bun. Her beautiful eyes scanned the others' work and her smile made Carol's heart skip. She smiled lightly to herself, the woman seemed at ease and happy. Sam must have sensed someone watching her because her head turned towards the door and the pair locked eyes for a second.

Sam's face went pale and her eyes widened. _Shit!_ Carol ducked down out of the way and bolted to the restroom, she definitely had not wanted Sam to see her before she had a chance to really explain what was going on. She had looked terrified when she saw her staring through the window. Granted, anyone would probably be startled seeing someone staring at them like that.

Not long after Carol went into the stalls did the restroom door open and someone breathed deeply. When Carol came out of the stall, Sam was standing in front of the mirror and leaning over the sink splashing water on her face.

Panicking, Carol went back and forth in her brain about what to do. This was her moment to say something, but now that Sam was physically standing in front of her, she started losing her nerve. She couldn't explain how this felt, she had never run from anything in her life. Before she could figure out what to do, Sam wiped her face with her hands and saw Carol standing there. She froze on the spot.

"Samantha?"

"Oh god, not this again. You aren't real… you aren't real…" she started muttering quietly and closing her eyes.

"No wait I'm real! It's me, Carol." Carol said trying to ease the panicking woman. It helped very little, though.

Sam went to the door to try and open it, but Carol grabbed her arm as gently as she could to stop her. The other woman's head snapped around, her face wrinkled in confusion, and she stared down at Carol's hand grabbing her then stared into her eyes. When their eyes met Sam instantly calmed for a moment. "Carol?" Her voice was barely over a whisper and she squinted her eyes as if trying to see through any deception. "But- that's impossible."

"Yeah, it's me. Well, sort of…" Carol let go of the woman's arm suddenly realizing their closeness and thinking it inappropriate even though it felt normal, "I don't remember a lot of things. Just bits and pieces."

"What? No, you died in a crash! How are you here?!" Sam exclaimed, Carol hoped she wouldn't start panicking again but she could see Sam was on the verge of losing it.

"It's kind of a long story, let me take twenty minutes of your time… please? I have a lot of questions and I'm sure you do too." Carol watched the woman process her words, she was hesitating but not immediately saying no which meant she had to be considering it.

Finally, Sam sighed and nodded curtly, "Fine… but I'm gonna need a drink."

_Trust me you'll need it… _Carol thought but decided against saying it out loud. She really hoped Sam would take the news as good as Maria had, but she had a strange feeling that things would be more complicated than that. Judging from her facial expression, Sam still wasn't even convinced she was real.

"Whiskey, on the rocks." Sam told the bartender once the two woman had sat down at the local bar.

Carol watched as he set it down in front of her and she took the glass in her hands, downed the whole glass of whiskey, slammed the glass back on the counter, and waved her hand for another. Carol had to admit she was impressed and worried at the same time. "So let me get this straight… you _didn't _die in the crash, you absorbed the blast's energy which gave you superpowers, and then an alien race called the Kree abducted you and erased your memories to make you into a soldier to fight against the Skrull, who aren't actually evil alien terrorists." Sam toyed with her next glass of whiskey while she tried to piece through the bizarre story.

Carol tipped her head to the side in thought, "Yeah, that's pretty much everything."

Sam chuckled bitterly, and she down the rest of her whiskey again waving her hand for another. "This must be some sort of sick joke…" she muttered and downed yet another glass of whiskey. "Didn't know my imagination could fabricate such a bizarre story…"

Carol furrowed her brow and shook her head, "Well, from what I remember you did have quite the imagination. But I promise, you're not imagining things. This is real."

Sam stared at her for a moment considering her, and Carol felt hot under the woman's eyes. "So you said you don't remember everything? What does that mean exactly?" Sam was testing her she realized, trying to figure out if Carol was the real thing. She thought it ironic because she was doing the same thing with people seeing if they were Skrull or not the first time she came back to Earth.

"Well, like I said the Kree erased my memories of everything here on Earth and it wasn't until I came here last year that I realized I had a life here… so I started remembering things little by little."

Sam seemed perplexed, "So you don't know who I am at all?"

Carol grimaced, "I've seen you in... flashes… which helped me find you, but it doesn't really go beyond that. All of the memories I have of you are good ones, though. I just can't remember how we met, how close we were, how long we knew each other… that sort of thing."

"All you see is flashes? What do you see?" Sam asked hesitantly.

Carol swallowed, she had been waiting to ask her about what exactly it was that she was seeing and maybe get some answers about who she was to her. "The most recurring one is seeing you, smiling and laughing, and we're at the beach together on the top of a cliff looking down at a pretty great view. I wanted to ask you about these memories that I have, see if you can help me piece them together? Please, Sam."

"That's…" Carol could see her start to sway slightly from the whiskey and she sighed heavily. Sam paused and pursed her lips then she smiled a little, "You're probably remembering the time I tried to surprise you with a trip to the beach, except halfway there you guessed where we were going. That was one of the most annoying things about you, I could never surprise you with anything because you'd guess it immediately." She rolled her eyes but smiled fondly.

Carol smiled too, she still couldn't remember everything but the feeling in her chest told her she cared about Sam. "Seems like something I'd do, I _am_ a genius after all," she said humorously.

The other woman stared at her then tore her eyes away chuckling as she did, "Yeah that's exactly what you would tell me back then too…" Sam got a sort of far off look in her eye like she was reliving those moments. Carol really didn't want to interrupt her reminiscing, but she was dying to say more.

Finally, she broke the silence and broke whatever train of thought Sam was in, "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," She quipped.

It was Carol's turn to roll her eyes and smile, "Okay, smartass-" Sam raised her eyebrows in mock surprise and took another sip of her whiskey. "Wow, already with the name calling!" She had said, but Carol ignored it.

"Who are you to me?"

Sam almost spit out her drink and after clearing her throat she cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at Carol. "I'm not sure you're ready for that answer."

"What do you mean?"

Sam turned in her bar stool and faced Carol, "Listen, Danvers… if you're telling the truth about everything, which I highly doubt, then prove it."

She knew Sam was trying to change the subject, but maybe once she fully believed her, Sam would open up about more. Carol gave her a sly smile, Sam really had no idea her mind was about to be blown. "You sure _you're _ready for that?" The other woman just stared intently at her, so Carol shrugged and stood up. "Alright, come on."

The brunette slapped some money down on the counter and followed Carol outside albeit a little wobbly. Carol made her way to the side of the building where no one was watching, remembering Fury's words to lay low, and smirked at Sam who seemed very confused. "You're not planning on murdering me out here are you? When I said prove it, that's not what I had in mind." The other woman jested.

"Just watch." And just like that Carol used her powers to float a few inches off the ground and let her body glow brightly with energy. She was satisfied with the open mouthed, gaping stare Sam was giving her. When she landed again and stopped glowing she crossed her arms in a confident way.

"I must be drunk… that's got to be it…" Sam breathed, "how did you…? You mean… your whole story is _true_?"

"Yup." Carol popped the _p, _and stood there waiting on Sam's many facial expressions as she worked through what her eyes just witnessed. Her mouth opened and closed trying to say something but changing her mind at the last second. "Alright, now your turn. How do we know each other?"

Sam swallowed audibly and she was hesitant to answer. Once she recovered from whatever shock she was in, "We met for the first time before you went to basic training and then we reconnected a little over a year before… your crash."

_Carol stepped onto the plane and took her seat next to the window. She had been glad to get a window seat even though she was flying economy, it was a rare occurrence for sure. Her stomach felt queasy with every moment as she waited for the rest of the passengers. She loved plane rides, just being in the air felt amazing, but pretty soon she'd be on a base in a place she had no friends and no family. It was an exciting and terrifying thought. _

_She heard someone sit down next to her before she saw them. They huffed as they sat and began fiddling with something that sounded like a pill bottle. Carol glanced over to see a younger woman probably about her age with brunette hair and tanned skin cupping two white pills in her hand and pop them in her mouth. She swallowed them dry and sighed. The announcements came on about plane safety in the case of an emergency. When they stopped, Carol noticed the girl beside her start shaking her leg up and down._

"_You good?" Carol asked with a half concerned, half humored expression._

_The woman looked at her and smiled sheepishly, "Nervous flyer." She said and tilted her head to the side in a cute way._

_Carol raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly. The plane began to move forward on the runway and then tilted back and into the air. The woman clasped the seat in a tight white-knuckle grip, she hadn't noticed Carol's hand was on the same armrest. She bit back a laugh at how tight the woman was squeezing, she didn't want to embarrass her so she just let it happen._

"_Oh god, I'm so sorry!" The woman exclaimed when the plane leveled out some and she loosened her grip. _

_Carol laughed and extended her fingers to make sure they still worked. "It's no problem! One hell of a grip you got there, though." She laughed at the woman's mortified facial expression. "Really, it's okay."_

"_I'm sorry I'm not normally like this, flights just make me anxious." The woman gripped the seat armrest again when the plane dropped a tad bit. _

_Carol examined her closely, making sure she didn't puke or have an seemed on the verge of both. "What's your name?" She thought if she asked her questions, maybe it would take her mind off of the flight. _

_The other woman's eyes locked with hers, Carol just now noticed they were a beautiful hazel color. "Samantha- well, everyone calls me Sam. Yours?"_

_Shifting her weight to face her more, Carol answered, "Carol. So are you traveling for pleasure or business?" _

"_Uh, a little bit of both actually. What about you?" She asked, genuinely curious. _

_Carol smiled, "Same. I'm in the Air Force going through basic training soon. What do you do for a living?" _

_Sam had placed her hand under her chin while she listened to Carol, the conversation seemed to be working in calming her down. "You do have the look…" Carol furrowed her brow in confusion and the girl elaborated, "the military look. Both my parents were part of the army so I know the look pretty well. You have it." _

_As much as Carol appreciated the compliment she had to admit she was curious what the "look" actually was. "What kind of 'look' is that?" She air quoted. When she asked, Sam grinned and appeared slightly embarrassed. _

_Finally she replied, "It's a very confident person, someone strong, and not just physically, but mentally… sturdy." Sam blushed as she said it and couldn't keep eye contact for long._

_Carol raised an eyebrow in amusement. "That's quite the reading from ten minutes having known me." _

_Sam shrugged and smiled mischievously, "I can just tell. It's a talent."_

_The blonde laughed. "Okay, if you say so! But nonetheless I will take the compliment, thank you." She chuckled, "So where are you from?"_

_Sam held her head up to the roof of the plane and squinted her eyes deep in thought. "Originally? Born in California, moved around a lot as a kid, and now I'm living in Louisiana. What about you?"_

"_Born and raised in California!" Carol said proudly. She was going to say more but the plane hit some turbulence causing Sam to stiffen up. Carol reached into her bag and pulled out a small bag of peanuts and handed them to Sam. "Here, they help a lot with the nerves." _

_At first, Sam eyed them clearly unconvinced but when the plane shook one more time she quickly accepted them and began popping them into her mouth much like she did with the pills. "Thanks." She said with her mouth full of peanuts. _

_Carol smiled and the two women continued to talk and laugh for the rest of the flight. When they parted ways, they exchanged phone numbers shyly before going their separate ways._

"I remember… nervous flyer…" Carol laughed absentmindedly and she remembered the butterflies in her stomach when they had exchanged numbers. She had chalked it up to excitement about finding a new friend, but deep down she suspected it was more than that.

Sam laughed showing her teeth. "Yeah… you calmed me down a lot that day. Without you, I probably would've had a panic attack."

Carol smiled and her heart swelled, "Well, couldn't have you starting a panic on the plane, could I?" Her quip was met with a cute laugh from Sam. The other woman made her way to a bench that was on the outside on the side of the building at the bar. "You mentioned we reconnected? What happened? Why did we lose touch?" She asked while sitting down next to the woman.

Sam rubbed her face with her hands and sighed, she stared at the ground for a second before answering. "We still talked occasionally, I'd call you or you'd call me from base if we both had the time, which was rare. But for the most part we could never actually hang out in person, so we just… drifted apart. It was crazy coincidence that we ever met again after that."

Carol waited for her to finish the story and tell her how they reconnected, but the other woman stayed silent. She was feeling the effects of all that whiskey Carol could tell because her eyes were more squinted and her speech had a slight drag to it, but not by much. As much as Carol wanted to get answers and rediscover some of her memories, she was more worried about Sam now. "Hey, maybe you should get some rest? I know this can't be how you thought your day would go."

Sam laughed and her words were sarcastic, "Which part? The dead coming back to life or the alien part? I at least expected one of those today." She shook her head slightly then head a hand to her temple like she suddenly got dizzy, "Yeah, I'm gonna get the bartender to call me a cab."

Before Sam could walk away Carol stopped her, she still had so many questions, "Can I see you again tomorrow?"

Again, Sam hesitated for a moment before she finally nodded, "Sure, meet me back at the studio same time as you did today."

Carol watched as Sam retreated into the bar. She decided not to follow her as it might be considered a title creepy that she had basically followed her around all day. The time they spent in the bar talking together was long enough for the sun to have been replaced by the moon in the sky. Carol stayed at the bench for a minute longer until she saw two men in black suits off in the distance. They stuck out since everyone else she saw in this town was dressed way more casually.

She began walking towards them, but when they noticed her they sped up and walked into a neighboring bar across the street. She jogged to catch up and entered the bar. She searched the crowd but found no one that resembled the men she had just seen. Her face showed her annoyance because a random guy came up and asked why she was "so angry" and "life wasn't that bad" and he could "help her relax." She ignored him as she normally did with this sort of behavior. He eventually left her alone only after asking at least three times to buy her a drink and give him a chance.

Carol walked around the bar until she was sure she lost the suspicious figures. When she walked back outside, a cab was picking up Sam. The other woman noticed Carol at the last minute and waved from inside the cab. Carol smiled and waved back. She looked forward to seeing Sam again. For now, she went to the closest motel to rent a room for the night seeing it pointless to drive all the way back to Maria's house and then back again tomorrow.

Her mind briefly wandered to the two men she saw earlier. She thought maybe they were S.H.I.E.L.D agents sent to keep an eye on her by Fury, or even Fury's superiors. Or worse, they could be the Skrull Fury mentioned. Either way, she would keep a sharp lookout for them again. Whoever they were, they acted suspiciously and Carol wanted to ask them a few questions.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Apologies for the lateness in this chapter! I had it all ready to go on time but then I started making edits and decided to change some things up, so that's why it's a day or so late. My regular Monday posting schedule will resume next week! Thanks for reading and leaving reviews, it means a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this so far.

* * *

Sleep had not come easy for Carol the night before. Her mind kept replaying her interaction with Sam. Not to mention the run-down motel she was staying at had paper thin walls. She began thinking of things she should have said or asked when talking with Sam. All it did was torture her, but now she had a good idea about what she wanted to ask when she met with the other woman today. And she would work up the nerve to ask her what their relationship was eventually because things felt _complicated._

While she waited, though, she decided to do a little digging around town. The suspicious characters from last night bothered her. If the Skrull group infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D, it was very possible they knew of her arrival already. Of course, the men in suits _could have _been agents themselves, but that too would bother Carol. She didn't want to be watched by S.H.I.E.L.D, she knew they wanted to keep tabs on her to keep the public oblivious to aliens and superhumans but it still felt like being babysat.

Carol drove Maria's car to the bar where she had seen the two men. To her surprise, the bar was actually open. The bartender was behind the counter cleaning since there weren't very many customers at this hour. "What can I get you?" He asked when he noticed Carol walking in.

If there was anything Carol vividly remembered about Earth, it was that the bartenders had _loads _of information at their disposal. "Information is all I need," she leaned her forearms against the bar countertop. "You remember seeing two guys here last night in suits?"

The bartender considered her for a moment and then threw the cloth he was cleaning with over his shoulder, "I see a lot of guys come in here wearing all kinds of attire."

"These guys would've stood out from your normal crowd, I think."

He examined her closely, "You a Fed or something?"

Carol laughed at that and gestured towards her blue jean and shirt style, "Do I look like one?"

"Can't judge a book by it's cover, as they say." He smiled at her with a charming grin. She raised an eyebrow at him and couldn't help feeling he was just toying with her. He definitely had to know who she was talking about. They stared at each other for a good while. He finally just chuckled and gave up, "Yeah, I saw them. They came in the bar and next thing I knew they were gone. Kind of in a creepy way… they just vanished."

Carol narrowed her eyes, it seemed more likely they shapeshifted rather than vanished. She left that part out, though. "Did you see anyone else acting strangely that night?"

"I run a bar, there's always strange characters in here." He replied. He must have sensed Carol's irritation because he added, "But no, I didn't see anyone else acting as strangely as those guys in suits. They had a weird vibe to them."

Carol nodded her appreciation, "Thanks, have a nice day." She said before walking out of the bar. The bartender shot her a small wave as she exited. She glanced around the area. The bar Sam led her to yesterday was just across the street from this one, odd as that was to Carol, and there was a gas station on the corner of the street. Just down the street ten minutes was the little downtown area where she would be meeting with Sam soon. She glanced at her watch that Maria had given her to keep up with time on Earth. It would be time to meet Sam in twenty minutes so she decided to head on over to the studio.

Once there, she walked inside and spotted the elderly woman behind the counter again. She smiled brightly and eagerly said, "Oh what a surprise! Are you here to see Samantha again?"

Carol nodded, "Yeah…" she laughed awkwardly. "I know I'm a little early, but I'll just wait here for her if that's okay?"

Anna smiled and stood up, a little straighter than she had yesterday Carol realized, and waved her to follow. "Oh no miss Samantha is actually free for the day! She's just back here."

She narrowed her eyes a tad and followed the woman to go down the hall. Before they made it far, Sam emerged from one of the rooms holding a clipboard. Her brow was furrowed like she was confused and she did a double take when she saw Carol and Anna. "Anna did something happen to my lessons today? My students were supposed to be here a while ago…"

Anna shrugged and raised her eyebrows. Carol noticed the skin on her hand move a tiny bit, "Hey Anna, do you have any other stories about Han?"

"Han?"

They stared at each other for a moment before the old woman moved with the grace of a young person, grabbed Sam's arm, stood behind the woman, and held an energy weapon to her back. To say Sam was alarmed would be an understatement. "Anna, what are you doing?!"

"That's not Anna, Sam… just stay calm." Carol warned her. She knew something had felt off about Anna today. The old woman tightened her grip on Sam. Carol's fist lit up with energy but she didn't dare make a move until she had a chance to get Sam away from the Skrull. A snarl came out of the elderly woman that was unfitting.

"Back up!" He yelled. Carol did as much but only by a step. The Skrull disguised as the receptionist waved the gun indicting for her to keep backing up. Since the gun was away from Sam now, Carol took that moment to send a quick and precise blast towards the Skrull's shoulder that was exposed and not shielded by Sam's body. The Skrull stumbled backwards and let go of Sam. Carol didn't let the Skrull regain his footing before she sent another blast at him. This time his gun went off and clipped the receptionist's desk causing the wood to splinter. Confidently, Carol stood in front of Sam to shield her from any other misplaced blasts from the energy gun.

"What the fuck is that?!" Sam yelled as the Skrull stood and half his face was Anna and the other was his own bumpy face. He fully morphed out of the receptionist lady's skin and back into his own. Carol almost wanted to point out that this was further evidence she had been telling the truth about the Skrull and her whole story, but figured this wouldn't be the best time to bring that up.

"Kree! What have you done with General Talos?!" He screamed in his throaty voice.

Carol held a hand up trying to calm him, "Just listen, I-" a blast from the energy gun he carried interrupted her. She had just enough time to shoot her own photon blast from her fist to counter the shot. "Whoa, whoa, whoa hang on!"

Behind her, Sam screamed as another shot was fired and Carol was only able to divert it this time. She turned to make sure Sam was okay and saw her covering her ears and cowering slightly. It had completely destroyed the painting on the wall behind them, though.

"Roan, I have the Kree woman! What are your orders?" The Skrull said into his communicator. He seemed to get a response that they could not hear because he smiled darkly and pointed his gun at Carol again.

She rolled her eyes and shot a photon blast out of her fists knocking him unconscious. He clearly wasn't going to listen to a word she said. With a satisfied smirk, she walked over to his unmoving body and tampered with his communicator. She was trying to pinpoint his leader's position, but someone on the other end fried the device before she could get anything useful. She sighed and glanced at Sam, "Is there a phone in here?"

Sam looked at her in disbelief, "Y-Yeah, over there." Her hand shakily pointed at the reception desk. A phone with a long cord was on what was left of the desk, Carol held it to her ear to make sure it worked and began dialing Fury's number. He had given it to her in case of an emergency and Carol felt this qualified. If anything, they could question the Skrull together. She listened to the line ring for a while before it went to voicemail, "Fury, it's me. I found one of the members of the rogue Skrull group, meet us at Maria's. Oh, and uh, don't call your superiors just yet. This has to be a big misunderstanding. Anyways, I'll explain more in person." She hung up and walked over to Sam.

"Are you hurt? Are you okay?" She asked while she checked her for any injuries. Sam shook her head and stared at the floor wide-eyed. She was still in shock and Carol couldn't blame her. "Sam?"

"Yeah… no, I'm not hurt," she swallowed dryly, and finally locked eyes with Carol. "Is Anna alright? I mean he didn't…"

Carol didn't want Sam's mind going there so she quickly stopped her, "No! They only copy what they see they don't have to do anything to the person. She's probably fine, but we can try to contact her if you want."

Sam nodded firmly and walked over to the phone, Carol watched her shaky hands press the numbers and bring the phone up to her face. She closed her eyes in relief after a few moments of waiting and sighed, "Anna… thank god you're alright!" Carol tuned out the rest and stared down at the Skrull. She frowned and picked up his arms by his wrists and started dragging him. After Sam hung up the phone, Carol asked, "Is there a back door? I doubt we should take him out the front."

Sam nodded and pointed down the hall. "It's down there to the right, it's the big iron door. Carol, what if people heard all the commotion? Should we call the police?"

Suddenly, Carol snapped her head up. She hadn't exactly thought about the noise of energy blasts going off and alerting others. "No, definitely don't call the cops… I have a friend who can handle this."

The other woman was conflicted but she eventually sighed and Carol got the feeling she wasn't going to argue. "Alright…" Sam walked around the studio with a sadness on her face at the damage. Carol felt extremely bad for dragging Sam into this mess. Clearly, the Skrull were looking for her because they thought she did _something _to Talos and the others. She let out a frustrated grunt while pulling the Skrull out the back door. Sam had now followed closely in front of the body staring at it in horror and awe.

Carol stood up straighter and dropped the Skrull. She grabbed the keys for Maria's car, now more glad than ever that she decided to bring it, and brought it around to the back of the studio. Sam luckily had not made a run for it, so she figured that was a good sign.

After she got the Skrull into the trunk of the car and separated him from the energy weapon, she looked at Sam who was standing by the car awkwardly. "Are you coming?" Carol asked.

Sam seemed startled to hear her voice, "What?"

"This guy knew where I'd be today, they've seen me with you and they're after me so I can't let them hurt you to get to me. But if you come with me, I can protect you. Please, Sam." Carol pleaded with the woman. Part of her knew that this was all too crazy for Sam and most people in their right mind wouldn't trust anything out of her mouth. The way Sam was looking at her, she too was aware of that fact, but surprisingly Carol saw an unspoken trust there.

"Okay, but can we make a pit stop?" Sam asked while she climbed in the passenger side seat and waited for Carol to get in as well.

Carol smiled before she got in, and looked at Sam expectedly, "Where's this pit stop then?"

"My apartment… if I'm going with you, I need to take care of something." Sam spoke shakily, she was still not totally processing everything happening. But Carol was just more surprised she was still thinking rationally even in her shocked state. She started the car and followed Sam's instructions to her house.

They arrived at a three-story brick apartment complex across from a little shopping center and a few gas stations. Carol followed Sam up a set of stairs that led to the third floor, the door Sam stopped at was labeled _310 _and they stepped inside. The inside of the apartment was painted a light blue color and the decorations accented the walls very well. What stood out the most was how many canvases and paintings were in the apartment. Carol counted four stands with a painting on it just in the main living room area. She glanced down a little hall and saw two doors both of which were open revealing bedrooms. One seemed to be Sam's and the other was nothing but more paintings and crafts.

"Charlie?" Sam called and snapped her fingers a few times. A white, brown, and gray cat with fluffy fur came running out of Sam's room and meowed up at both of the women. Sam smiled and bent down to pick the cat up. "This is Charlie. I want to make sure he's taken care of."

Charlie the cat looked at his owner and then at Carol. He had a cute little face, but her mind went back to Goose on how cute he was but turned out to actually be a flerken. She held out her hand to let Charlie sniff it, then when he didn't attack her, she started petting his head. Sam smiled at the two interacting. "I'll call a friend to see if they can check up on this guy while I'm away."

Carol agreed and listened as Sam dialed a number on her landline phone. She took the opportunity while waiting to go into the room dedicated to Sam's artwork. The walls were littered with paintings and sketches. Most of them were either landscapes, animals, or abstract style. She smiled fondly, remembering when Sam would stop in the middle of nowhere to draw. The woman had no shame in halting whatever they were doing to be creative. Carol remembered admiring that about her. From the looks of it, she hadn't changed that part of her life.

A closet on the back wall of the room caught Carol's eye because a box was half in, half out of it. She walked over to it and saw the words "old stuff" written in black permanent marker. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened it revealing a few old sketchbooks. She opened the one on top of the pile and found the picture of the squirrel she had drawn in the park. Then she flipped randomly into the middle of the book and saw the sketch Sam had done of her. At the bottom it was titled "Carol." She smiled and her fingers traced the lines. Again, she flipped through randomly and this time discovered a picture she didn't quite recognize. It was titled, "Lazy Morning" and it was Carol laying down on her side with messy bed hair with the sheets loosely around her waist. Her arm was covering where her breast would be, but there was some indication of a side shot of boob. For a moment it appeared as if she had no clothes on, but that couldn't possibly have been it. Maybe it was an unfinished drawing, Carol thought.

"Okay a friend of mine is coming to watch Char-" Sam stopped when she saw what Carol was looking at and her face flushed.

Carol imagined her face was one of surprise at being caught snooping, not to mention finding a slightly provocative drawing of herself. She slammed the sketchbook shut and stood abruptly, "Sorry I shouldn't have been snooping!" She said embarrassed. Sam opened and closed her mouth awkwardly.

"Maybe we should just get a move on?" Carol suggested while walking past Sam and heading straight for the door. Apparently, Sam shared her embarrassment because she followed swiftly and without a word.

They rode in silence the whole way to Maria's. Sam too shaken up to say anything and Carol felt so guilty about everything she had no idea what she could say that would ease the woman at all. That, coupled with her embarrassing moment at Sam's apartment, was killing the whole mood in car.

When the two women pulled up to Maria's house it was the sun was starting to go down. Monica and Maria were actually already outside in the yard playing in leaf piles. Carol smiled at Monica who ran up to her and gave her a giant hug around the waist. "Mom said you came back and I missed it, I'm so glad you're here!" She exclaimed happily.

"Aw c'mon, you know I couldn't stay away for long! I'd miss you too much." She ruffled Monica's hair a bit and held her shoulders.

"How'd things go?" Maria said walking up to the pair. It was at that moment Sam opened and closed her side door and gazed curiously at Maria, Carol, and Monica. "Pretty well it looks like?" Maria asked with her eyebrows raised in amusement at her best friend.

Carol chuckled and grimaced in anticipation for the explanation she was going to have to give to Maria, "Actually things went… unexpectedly. I may or may not have a rogue Skrull in the back of your car."

The expression Maria gave had was priceless, "You better 'may not' have a Skrull in the back of my car."

"Eh, yeah… I do, though."

"Why the hell did you bring it here?" Maria sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Monica go inside and play, please. I'll be right in after I kill your aunt Carol." She said jokingly.

Carol laughed and punched her arm lightly, "See I knew you'd come around! By the way-" she waved Sam over, "-this is Sam, Monica could you take her inside with you?"

Monica saluted like she was taking orders but gladly obliged when Sam walked over to them. The young girl grabbed Sam's hand and began talking about how amazing Carol was and something about letting the other woman see Carol's old jacket. Sam shot her a worried expression before she let Monica lead her into the house. When both were gone, Carol motioned for Maria to follow her to the trunk of the car. She popped it open and the Skrull was still laying there unconscious. "So, he's part of that rogue Skrull group Fury mentioned?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure there were two of them, though. They've been spying on me, I think. I saw two guys in suits watching me the other day. At first, I just figured they were S.H.I.E.L.D agents sent to keep an eye on me, but when I followed them into a bar they vanished and the only explanation I could think of was they shapeshifted into other people. This one followed Sam and used her to get to me." Carol explained.

"You think the other one followed you?" Maria asked with a hint of concern.

She shrugged, "Doubt it, that's why I came here. Thought maybe Sam would be safe here at least. She's not taking everything super well, so I thought being around you and Monica might help her." She hoisted the Skrull over her shoulder and followed Maria back into the house and down the creepy staircase into the basement. Maria grabbed a foldable chair and set it up in the middle of the small space. Carol dropped the Skrull down into it and then slapped her hands together. "Fury should, hopefully, be here soon. I left him a message to meet us here that way he can help us handle this."

Maria sighed while they tied the Skrull's hands and feet to the chair, "So, did you get answers? I take it Sam _isn't _an alien or anything since you've brought her here," she thought a moment and rolled her eyes, "then again, you brought _this _alien here."

Carol chuckled at her friend in amusement, she knew Maria actually liked all of this exciting action so she didn't take any of her annoyed comments too seriously. "No, she's not an alien. I've actually remembered a few more fragments of my memory since meeting with her, but I'm still not clear on everything yet."

"That should do it," Maria wiped her hands and stood back admiring their handy work. The Skrull was securely tied to the chair. "I'm glad you're starting to remember things. Okay, maybe we should head back in and make sure Monica isn't getting too carried away with Sam."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Carol laughed at the thought of Monica talking nonstop and showing Sam all of her old things. Thinking of it though, she hoped she didn't have anything embarrassing still in that old box full of her things.


	5. Chapter 5

A light flickered as Carol tapped on her wrist communication device, she was attempting to reach Talos to inform him about the Skrull group left behind on Earth. After they attacked Sam, Carol felt a little like she was being pulled apart in two different directions. On one hand, she was angry that the Skrull wouldn't listen to reason and hear her out, and on the other she _did _want to help them get back to Talos and the refugees. It didn't help that they had destroyed Sam's art studio. Sam seemed to be handling things a little better now that she was around other people, though. Monica helped a lot with that Carol thought because the girl was explaining _everything _to Sam in a very childlike way, but it was much less scary sounding coming from her.

The image of Talos sputter on and off for a moment and his voice cracked with every word he tried to say. After a few moments of tampering with the signal on both ends, they managed to clear the comms up.

"Carol? Can you hear me?" He called through the comms loudly, Carol smiled knowing he was frustrated with the technology. He got that way on Mar-Vell's lab from time to time too.

She smiled at seeing the Skrull again, "Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear! How is everything there?"

Talos smiled his tight mouth smile and his eyes lit up, "Very well, actually! We've begun building settlements in the surrounding areas because more and more Skrull are responding to our messages that we send out every few days. We had a run in with a few of the beasts living here, but nothing we couldn't handle. How's Earth? Have you found some of the answers you've been looking for?"

Carol was genuinely happy they were finding a home in Dara, it was incredible news that more of their people were starting to go to the planet and settle there as well. She knew how much that meant to Talos to have all his people in one spot. That's partly why she dreaded telling him they left behind a few Skrull when they departed Earth. "That's actually why I'm contacting you… there were a few of your men that we were a bit hasty in assuming dead."

Talos scrunched his face in confusion, "What do you mean?"

She pursed her lips and sighed, "Some of your men are still alive and still here on Earth. They've been causing… _trouble _to put it lightly. Infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D, destroying property, and they won't listen to reason. Fury is trying to keep his superiors from doing anything drastic, but I don't know how much longer he can hold them off. I was thinking if you could send them a message somehow, maybe they'll listen?"

The image of Talos flickered again and Carol tapped her wrist thinking it would clear the picture up, Talos cleared up and she could see he was deep in thought. His arms were crossed and he appeared stressed, "That's troubling news… do you know what their names are, the remaining Skrull?"

Carol furrowed her brow, she _had _heard one of them refer to whoever their leader was. What was his name? _Roan! _She could hear the Skrull talking through his communicator, talking to someone named Roan. "Only one name, I think it's whoever is leading them… Roan?"

She visibly saw Talos sneer and he sighed heavily, "Well that's going to complicate things…"

"Talos… what're you not telling me?" Carol asked skeptically.

He pursed his mouth and moved his head awkwardly, like he was embarrassed to tell her what was on his mind, "Roan and I never agreed on anything. He wanted war with the Kree, _fed _on it, while everything I did was to get our families back. He was the next highest-ranking officer under me and he's ruthless. When we landed on Earth, he believed we just should've made it our home even if that meant enslaving humans because he thought of your people as weak. Told me it would be an easy takeover."

Carol made a noise, "Wow, sounds like a real stand-up guy. Must've been a pleasure to work with."

Talos said sarcastically, "Trust me, it was." He chuckled, "If you can get me into contact with him, I'll explain the situation and give him the coordinates to our location. Even though he's war-hungry, he cares for our people and deep down that's what drives him the most so maybe he'll listen."

Carol nodded in appreciation, "I'll contact you again if I find him and he _doesn't _kill me on sight."

With that, Talos agreed and they said their goodbyes before the comm link shut off. Carol pinched the bridge of her nose thinking about how she was going to find this Roan character, he wanted to kill her so it shouldn't be too hard to draw him out. She was just worried about the damage he might cause before she could get to him.

"That your alien friend?" A familiar voice said behind her.

Carol turned to face Sam who was exiting Maria's house and hugging a blanket around her shoulders shielding her from the brisk night air. Upon seeing her, Carol chuckled, "His name is Talos, but yes, he's my alien friend." She mocked playfully.

Sam hesitantly took a seat next to her and eyed her communication device curiously. Carol glanced down at it then back up at the woman. "It's a communicator, kind of like a phone but super long distance… and it also shows what that person is doing at that moment. Like a moving picture, I guess."

Carol stopped her explanation there because she noticed Sam starting to look overwhelmed. She watched Sam huff and widen her eyes before rubbing her face and staring up at the night sky. Carol watched Sam with curiosity, "How are you?" She asked. Over the past few hours, everything was starting to process in Sam's head more. Monica helped a great deal in explaining everything, but Sam became unreadable not too long after they got here. It seemed more like she was just listening and taking everything in than actually knowing it was all real. She started becoming more and more antsy too.

Sam looked up at Carol and she swallowed, "Let's see my studio is destroyed, an alien attacked me and took the face of my receptionist, by the way _aliens _are an actual thing and they shapeshift, not to mention there's one in the basement, and on top of all that you are _alive and have superpowers_. So… good?"

Carol nodded silently and thought that the woman had a point. This was definitely not the way she wanted their reconnection to go. She had hoped just to talk to the other woman and see if she could help her sort out her jumbled-up memories. Instead, Sam was thrown into the chaotic world of Carol Danvers without much warning.

"I understand this is all… a lot, and I'm sorry for dragging you into this." Carol said genuinely.

Sam rested her forearms on her legs and she wrung her hands in an anxious way as well, "I'll admit it is a lot, but I'm okay."

Carol nodded and placed her hand on the other woman's knee in a comforting gesture. Sam glanced at her hand then up at Carol, she visibly relaxed while staring into her eyes. She wasn't sure why but she seemed to have this effect on Sam. So far, every time she got anxious and overwhelmed, one look from Carol and she calmed.

The brunette sighed and tore her eyes away, "So what are those things? Are they the bad guys?" She finally asked.

Carol shrugged, she knew even though she explained things to Sam when she first reconnected with her that this was probably a hard reality to accept, "Well… it's a little more complicated than that. They're called Skrull, like I told you before. They shapeshift into whatever they see. Last year when I first came here, they were the bad guys, but then we started to see they just wanted to find a home and their family. I helped their leader find their family and a home planet, but the Skrull who attacked you must have been left behind by mistake. He wouldn't even try to listen to me. If I could just get them into contact with Talos…" She could see Sam processing her words by the way she nodded her head slowly as if accepting that this was real. "Are you going to be okay?"

Sam nodded and hesitated before saying, "Yeah, I mean I imagine this is just as strange for you, seeing flashes of your memories of someone you've never met must be odd."

Carol tilted her head and sucked in a breath, "Well, it was strange at first but then I saw you again and… I don't know, I could tell we were close at one point. You feel familiar." Carol's face felt hot as she added the last part. It sounded a bit different in her head, but now she hoped Sam wouldn't read into it too much. She had her suspicions about their relationship but she didn't dare act on her suspicions in fear that she was mistaken. And she was trying to completely avoid the subject of that drawing she found in Sam's art room.

"Who would've thought there's all this crazy stuff up there. Aliens, light speed travel, _super-powered people_," she gestured toward Carol. She laughed suddenly, "Do you remember when we used to go in the middle of nowhere at night and star gaze?"

"Tell me about it?" She asked, hoping the retelling of the memory might help it come back to her mind. Sam nodded and began telling her the times they made spontaneous trips.

_Carol held the steering wheel with one hand as her and Sam sang along loudly to a Bon Jovi song. They had decided to drive out to a field of crops in the middle-of-nowhere land where the stars would be the brightest because they both needed it. Carol unexpectedly drove to Sam's apartment after an especially frustrating run in with a guy commenting about her being a woman in the Air Force. Sam experienced something similar that day with a critic bashing her pieces of art rather harshly. _

"_It's so beautiful out here, and peaceful too," Sam said dreamily when they arrived at their destination. They laid on top of the hood of Carol's mustang. They had made a nice little set up with a few blankets on top of the hood to make it less uncomfortable, and they had lantern-like lights set up around them. They swapped a bottle of whiskey from Sam's stash in her apartment back and forth. She told Carol she was saving it for a rainy day and today seemed to qualify. _

_Carol hummed happily, "Mhmm…"_

_Sam pointed at the sky suddenly, "Hey, look, it's the Little Dipper!" She exclaimed happily. _

_Carol smiled at her and gazed up at the constellation. Her mind started to wander after they were silent for a bit, "Do you ever think about what might be up there?" _

"_You mean the stars?" Sam deadpanned, earning a halfhearted glare from her. Carol laughed, "No, I mean beyond that or deeper than that. What if people _live _on those stars or those other planets out there. There's so much we don't know." _

_Sam draped an arm across her own stomach and tucked the other behind her head. "Hm, well the universe is big and strange, so I'd say there's a lot out there. Even aliens." She chuckled at the last part and Carol felt her own smile creep up. The warmth in her chest while she watched Sam smile and laugh was unbearable. _

"_Okay, question time," Sam sat up abruptly and stared intently at Carol who followed suit. "If you could have one superpower, what would it be?"_

_She narrowed her eyes in deep thought and hummed, "Hmm, flying for sure!" _

_Sam rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, "Of course that's what you chose. You practically live in the clouds, fly girl." _

"_Yeah, yeah I'm predictable! Now what would you choose?" Carol asked and leaned back against the hood again. From that angle, Sam looked beautiful. The stars and moon were casting blue light down and their lantern-like lights were also creating an orange tinted glow around her. She looked like a model posing in front of a backdrop of stars. _

_Carol was admiring Sam so much that she almost missed her answer. "I'd like to time travel. To meet artists that influenced the art world so much, to travel to places before men were able to touch it… that would be amazing." Her face became serious while she spoke and there was a sort of longing there. Sam must have thought about this a lot, Carol wondered. _

"_Oh, come on; that's not a superpower," Carol jested earning her a slap to the arm. The pair had an intense stare down before bursting out in a fit of giggles. _

"Yeah, I think I do remember that… we had the best conversations out there," Carol stated relieved that she was remembering more and more things about her life. One thing was becoming clearer: she had feelings for Sam before her accident. Whether she ever acted on them she still didn't know so she was playing things safely.

Sam nodded, "We did. Never would have thought the things we talked about were not as farfetched as we originally believed, though. Yesterday morning was completely normal and now everything is so different."

"Tell me about it."

Suddenly, Sam became serious and got a little more of a confident gleam in her eyes. It surprised Carol because it was the most steady and pulled together she had seen her since meeting her. It gave her hope that maybe Sam would be okay with everything happening and that she was adapting to it. "So, what's the plan with those Skrull? I want to help."

Carol grinned widely, this was going to be interesting. She was glad Sam seemed to be coming around. "Well, for now, it's a waiting game for Fury to show up and for the Skrull to wake up. I guess I hit him harder than I thought. We need to see what the rest of his group is planning. Talos thinks it could be bad if this Roan character is in charge of them. But I'm hoping we can get them into contact with Talos, so they'll stop thinking I did something to him and maybe they'll want to go to the new world their people settled on."

Just at that moment Maria stepped out from around the corner of the house and said, in a rushed voice, "Carol, our _friend _is awake!"

"Ugh, finally. He took a long enough nap," she said sarcastically and eagerly slapped her hands together. Maria rolled her eyes at her best friend and retreated back behind the house. Carol stood to leave but stopped when Sam called to her. "Hey Carol?"

"Yeah?"

"I know it probably hasn't seemed like it, but I'm really glad you are alive. I…" she acted like she was going to say something else but Carol could see her internal struggle with the words. Finally, she just shook her head and settled on repeating her words, "I'm just glad."

Carol felt her chest tighten with affection for the other woman out of nowhere. "Yeah… me too." She smiled and cleared her throat after they both realized they had been staring at each other for a little too long. "Um, I'm going to go- "

"Yeah, go. Sorry-" Sam interjected.

"No, it's okay!" Carol waved her hand in a nonchalant manner and made a face. They laughed and Sam tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before Carol started down the stairs to follow Maria.


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you all for being patient! This chapter was delayed because of personal things going on in my life so it's been difficult to write anything lately. Going forward I want to post these chapters only when they're ready rather than trying to pump them out fast with errors! Stay tuned for about 5 or 6 more chapters in this story before it reaches a conclusion!

* * *

"_Carol? Carol?" A gentle hand nudged Carol on her shoulder. "Are you going to wake up or am I going to have to pour this on you?" A voice lightly joked, finally Carol groaned and opened her sleepy eyes to find Sam standing over her with a glass of water. "Here, I thought you might need this considering last night." _

_Last night? Carol remembered coming over to Sam's after grabbing dinner with her and then the rest was blurry. Despite her confusion, she smiled up at Sam genuinely happy to see her face this early in the morning and took the glass of water from her, sipping it gingerly after noticing her head pounding. She also noticed that she was in her friend's bed. "Um… what happened?" _

_Sam laughed cutely, and Carol couldn't help but admire her appearance. Her hair was a little unkempt from sleeping and her eyes had a slight red tint from sleep as well making her hazel eyes pop out more. She wore an oversized t-shirt from the local art studio and Carol assumed she had on shorts under the shirt. The woman shifted on the bed so that she was facing Carol and sitting with her legs crossed, confirming she was indeed wearing shorts. "You got super drunk is what happened." She raised an eyebrow in amusement. _

_Carol cringed and rubbed her eyes, "Wow, then I'm sorry you had to see that. I can get a bit rowdy when I'm drunk. I hope I didn't do anything weird?" She asked, desperately hoping she had not made a move on Sam. She tended to want to make out with everyone, particularly other women, when she was drunk. Not to mention, she knew that she felt something a little more than just friends for Sam, but she never felt anything other than pure desire towards anyone else so these feelings freaked her out. And she didn't want to freak Sam out._

_Sam thought for a minute, "Well… you _did _suggest we sing karaoke all night long, but after a few more drinks you totally forgot about it." She grinned and added, "It was nice to see you so… free, though. You've been so stressed out lately and I hate seeing you like that." _

_Warmth spread from Carol's stomach to her cheeks as Sam gazed at her in a trance-like state. She would give anything to know what it was Sam was thinking. Carol cleared her throat and Sam awkwardly looked away saying, "Alright Danvers, come on, you're going to help me make breakfast!" _

_Following Sam, begrudgingly, into the kitchen Carol said, "I thought the host was supposed to make breakfast for the guest, aka, me?" She quipped lightly. _

_Sam whipped around with a spatula in hand and waved it at Carol, "Ha! Guest? Please, Carol you practically _live _here. I might as well just give you a key already." She joked. _

"_Asking me to move in _already_? You really don't waste any time, do you?" She feigned surprise and let out a yelp when Sam threw a hand towel at her. Carol caught the towel ungracefully and threw it back to the woman who just shot her a half-hearted glare. _

Down in the basement of Maria's house, the Skrull was starting to groan and open his eyes slowly. Carol stood in front of him a few steps away crossing her arms impatiently. She really wanted to send a warning blast to wake him up faster, but she was remembering he wasn't her true enemy. At least she hoped he wouldn't be by the time she explained the situation.

"Hey? You going to sleep all day, or do you need another blast to the head?" She said confidently.

The Skrull's head shot up in surprise at hearing her voice, she assumed. His eyes darted around checking his surroundings and his shoulders tensed up when he realized he was nowhere familiar and in big trouble. "Where the hell am I?" He shouted, confused.

Maria was the one who spoke up now, "Don't worry about it. We'll be asking the questions."

Carol smirked at her best friend, loving that they both would be playing the role of bad cop. She crossed her arms again and stood confidently. "We need to talk. I know you're working with Roan and he's probably told you that I did something to the rest of your people, but that's not true. Once Talos showed me how I got my powers and who was to blame for my memories being lost, I decided to help him, not fight him." She started to explain everything to the Skrull but he violently shook his head and interrupted before she could continue.

"No! That's a lie!" He yelled, "There's no way Talos would leave us here like that, you must've tricked him and captured him or worse killed him!"

The Skrull tugged at his restraints futilely. Carol looked at him in pity, he really thought the others were dead and everything he was doing was to get revenge. That was no way to live. "We found Mar-Vell's lab. She was helping your people; they were on the ship! That's where I've been the last year, helping Talos and your families find a new home world. And I can prove it."

He watched her carefully as she held out her wrist and tapped a few things on it. Suddenly a shaky image of Talos popped up. "Carol? Are you there?"

"I'm here Talos. One of Roan's agents is here as you can see. He needs _proof_ of our partnership."

Talos turned his back to Carol to face the Skrull. "Gradar! You're alive!" He exclaimed in relief.

Gradar leaned forward eagerly, "Talos? This must be some sort of trick! This Kree woman says you came to her in peace and she helped you? That can't be true!"

Talos nodded firmly, "Yes, Carol was willing to help us after hearing our plight. She is not our enemy, in fact, she's a close friend. When she told me we had left behind some of our men, I felt such shame and failure as a leader. I hope you can forgive me."

For a moment, Gradar hesitated like he wanted to believe Talos but he shook his head. "But Roan says we should just made this planet our home! He says we can carve our future by taking over."

"Roan is wrong, Gradar. We have started anew in an even better place, no offense to your home world Carol-"

"None taken." She replied with a chuckle.

Talos pursed his lips and sighed, Carol noticed he looked tired, "Please, Gradar. If you can convince Roan to leave his crusade behind, you can be reunited with your wife and children. Earth already has inhabitants… this new planet, Dara, we call it- is ours."

To both Maria and Carol's surprise, Gradar started to tear up and drops fell from his eyes. "My wife and children are alive and well?"

Talos smiled gently, "Yes. They miss you a great deal. Will you assist Carol in contacting Roan? To convince him he need not continue this crusade of his?"

The Skrull thought for a moment before reluctantly agreeing. Carol and Talos exchanged a look before they nodded to each other once and ended the connection. Carol squinted her eyes at the Skrull, "Okay, how-"

"You know, I thought I told you _not _to cause a scene." A voice from the top of the staircase boomed. Carol instantly recognized it as belonging to Fury so she smiled lightly and rolled her eyes.

"Technically, _I _didn't, he did." She said with a light tone and pointed at Gradar, who shrugged and acted oblivious.

Fury's footsteps stopped when he reached the bottom of the stairs and he seemed unconvinced by the stare he gave her. "Right, just like last time you came to Earth. I believe you." He said in his quick witted, sarcastic way.

Carol smirked coyly, "At least I caught one of the rogue agents, _agent_ _Fury_."

Fury just stared at her in a way that was between annoyed and amused. Carol found the whole situation only slightly funny that a few days of her being back on Earth she was already doing what Fury's agents had been failing to do for a year. A little voice in her head told her even though she was solving the Skrull problem, she still hadn't been successful in solving her _own _problems. She still had no inclination to how deep her connection with Sam really went, and if it was even reciprocated. All in all she was hoping for one solid memory that would confirm her suspicions without a doubt. Preferably _before _she made a fool of herself.

She heard Fury's voice before fully processing what he was saying, "So what did you get from him?"

Gradar rolled his eyes, "_He _has a name. And I'm right here, I can hear you."

For a moment, Carol thought Fury was going to strangle the Skrull from the wide-eyed glare he shot at him. His mouth pursed in annoyance too. Somehow, he actually held it together after another moment of silent glare before turning to face Carol fully, ignoring Gradar. She took the queue to begin explaining, "Well, I have figured out who is leading this whole charade. It's a Skrull agent named Roan, he and Talos don't have the cleanest record with each other which could complicate things. But Gradar here is going to help us try to dissuade Roan from any further violence."

Carol shot a pointed glare at Gradar, making sure he knew what his role was going to be. Gradar nodded quickly. "If it will help me get back to my family, I'm going to help any way I can."

Fury placed his hands behind his back and held his chin up, "Do you have a plan?" He directed the question at Carol who just sort of grimaced and smiled awkwardly. "You don't have a plan?" Fury sighed incredulously.

"It's a work in progress. All we need to do is find a way to contact Roan, they fried Gradar's communication device when I tried to track the connection, so that's going to be a no-go," Carol began explaining when Gradar interjected. "I can tell you where we were set up, but I'll need to go alone if you want any chance of meeting with Roan peacefully."

"No way," Fury said forcefully. "How do we know you won't just go back in and warn them or worse tell them wh-"

"You really think I'm going to abandon the chance to see my family? I have to go alone or Roan will shoot you all on sight. Look I can give you the coordinates in good faith but I'm asking you to trust me like I'm going to trust that you won't go in and kill my comrades. Most of them are lost and confused." Gradar eyed Fury skeptically. Carol could see that he was telling the truth so she nudged Fury's shoulder silently trying to convey they should listen to the Skrull. He seemed to get the message because he pursed his lips and rolled his eye.

Gradar nodded a "thank you" to Carol as he continued, "I can speak to the others first and try to recruit them to the cause. If enough people are on board then Roan will have no choice but to stand down and meet with you. It may take some time to convince everyone, though."

Fury crossed his arms, "How much time?"

"Give me a few days, if you can. If it's more than a week just assume something went wrong and that's when you can head to the hideout and force Roan to speak if you have to."

Carol thought it was a decent plan, she would've liked to have had more say in it, but she understood that an inside man might be the better way to peacefully end this and get the Skrull united with the others on Dara. "How do we get everyone to Dara if they agree to leave, though?" Maria asked. It was a good question, Carol certainly couldn't fly them there one by one that would take way to long.

"We have… been trying to build a ship, but most of us are soldiers, not scientists." Gradar added.

Fury shifted his weight and glanced down, he was acting strangely Carol noted. She narrowed her eyes at him, "Fury? Do you know of a way?"

He shook his head, "I'll make some calls."

"Great, so when do we start?" Maria clapped her hands together expectantly. "I'm ready for everything to go back to normal." Carol laughed at the last part and waved her hand dismissively. She knew Maria liked the action, but she understood not wanting Monica around all of this too.

Gradar wiggled his arms as much as he could in his restraints, "We can start right now, but you'd have to release me."

Maria, Carol, and Fury all looked at each other for a moment, then Fury spoke first, "You give us the location of the hideout, then we release you." Gradar nodded his agreement and Maria fished a piece of paper and pen out of an old desk drawer that clearly hadn't been used in a while. Carol was surprised there was even anything in it. The Skrull wrote some glyphs that only she recognized as coordinates. She glanced at Fury who nodded his approval before Carol sent a blast that cut the ropes off the Skrull. She pointed a finger at him, "You've got three days, then Roan will have to answer to me. We should start first thing tomorrow morning."

Maria gave her a _look _but sighed instead of arguing, "There's a sleeping bag over there," she pointed to a corner then directed her attention to the Skrull, "You can sleep down here. Sorry, no room in the house. But if we're decided on the plan I'll go make dinner for everyone. Gradar, would you like to help?"

Taken back, the Skrull pointed at himself clarifying that she really wanted him to help her. When Maria nodded, he quickly agreed and followed closely behind her as she walked up the stairs, Carol kept a close eye on him and began to follow, but Fury grabbed her upper arm and spoke quietly. "Are you sure we can trust him?"

"I think he just wants to get back to his family, that's what most of the Skrull wanted from the beginning. He betrays us or doesn't succeed, and he knows he may never find them. But just in case," Carol held up a small device that was a flat circular shape and placed it in her wrist device, a screen not unlike a radar popped up with a pulsating dot. "This is a tracker, I put the other end on him before he woke up. If he lied about the location we'll know soon enough."

Inside the house, Sam and Monica were sitting on the couch while Sam watched the younger girl draw and occasionally gave her pointers or praise. When they noticed Carol walk in, Monica's face lit up and she held up her drawing for Carol. "Auntie Carol! Look," the picture was of her in her suit but her eyes were glowing and her hair was flying in different directions. It was pretty impressive, Carol thought, she had no idea Monica liked to draw. "Ms. Sam has been helping me! She says I'm a natural. Do you like it?"

Carol's eyes went from the drawing to Sam, who was smiling endearingly at Monica, and back to the drawing. Fury took the opportunity to greet Sam and introduce himself. Carol vaguely heard him telling her that his "people" were fixing up her art studio.

"_There! All done." Sam exclaimed happily and held the sketch book up to Carol showing her the very elaborate landscape sketch she managed to draw in under thirty minutes. They were on top of a building overlooking a city, music was playing in the background and people were chatting around them. The building doubled as a mall, but the roof was a lounge type space where people could get away from the business of the mall, if they were willing to pay a little extra. Carol was enjoying the atmosphere and the view, but her whole focus was on Sam drawing. It was her favorite thing to watch. The way her eyebrows would scrunch together in concentration, the focus in her eyes as they moved from the view back to her sketchbook, and the way her lips turned upwards when she was satisfied with the drawing. "Do you like it?" Sam asked slowly and Carol realized she had just been staring at it without saying anything._

"_It's amazing! I don't know how you do it. You never cease to impress!" She said and felt her heart swell when Sam smiled brightly. _

_The brunette tore the page out and gave it to Carol, "You keep it." She said, then she stood up and grabbed Carol's hand, "Come on, flygirl, let's go grab some food. It's on you!" _

_Carol laughed but let the slightly smaller woman drag her from the stool she sat on, "On me, huh? I don't recall agreeing to that!" _

"_Consider it repayment for the drawing!" Sam called while still eagerly leading Carol to the lift that led down into the shopping center and food court. _

_If it were anyone else, Carol might have protested but she never minded treating Sam. She told herself it wasn't because of the crush she was starting to get for the brunette, but that was becoming less and less believable the more time she spent with her. _

She smiled warmly at the memory. "I absolutely love it! When did you get so good at everything?" She said while holding up her hand for Monica to give her a high-five. The young girl met her hand happily and gave Carol a tight hug.

With big puppy eyes Monica said, "Do you want to keep it? That way if you ever get lonely you'll remember me and feel happy!"

Carol's eyes squinted in a huge smile and she ruffled Monica's hair, "Of course! It'll be my lucky charm. Thank you, Lieutenant Trouble!" Monica giggled at the weird voice Carol added when saying the nickname. Fury and Sam were finishing up their conversation and Fury left the room saying he would check on Gradar. For a while, Monica, Sam, and Carol stayed in the room talking and laughing. Monica was making Sam laugh hard at some of her stories of Carol. She recalled a time where Carol took her swimming and tripped and fell into the water, which the blonde defended she had no memory of it, but deep down she knew the story had to be true by the details. Hearing Sam's laughter was doing strange things to her body. The sound was easy, but the electricity that surrounded Carol was intoxicating.

"That does sound like you, Carol," Sam giggled in response to something Monica had said about her reaction after falling into the pool. Carol felt heat rise in her body while she smiled along with Sam and Monica. "Are you okay?" Sam's voice called and her hand touched Carol's very gently.

It was then Carol realized her hands had started to glow with her powers. As soon as it started, though, she put a stop to it. "O-Oh yeah, that just happens sometimes…" she lied, not wanting Sam to know that she affected her _that _much. "How about you draw something for your mom too, kiddo? I've got to talk with Ms. Sam." Carol said to Monica.

Monica looked between both of them and Carol could see the realization across her face. She made an "O" with her mouth and gathered up all her drawing supplies before she headed into the kitchen where her mother was whipping up something to eat. She raised her eyebrows at Carol knowingly before fully exiting which confused the super-powered woman. Once the girl was gone, Carol moved from her position on the recliner chair and sat down next to Sam on the couch.

"She's a good kid, really talented at drawing too." Sam said when they were alone, and Carol nodded her agreement. "I saw you let the Skrull guy go…and he's helping in the kitchen," Sam's face scrunched in mild amusement, "so does that mean he's going to help?" she asked quickly.

"Yeah, well I hope so. He seemed genuine about helping out, he's going to go talk to the rest of the group and if we're lucky get them to agree to leave peacefully." Carol leaned back into the couch and sighed. She closed her eyes and the image of the revealing sketch of her in Sam's apartment popped into her head. She desperately wished her memory would come back completely, but she knew it wouldn't work on command like that. "Hey, can I ask you something?" She asked trying to push down the nervousness she felt. Her body was literally indestructible, she could handle _this_.

"Of course," Sam turned to fully face her, her face was scrunched in minor concern and she obviously sensed Carol's discomfort.

"Hey guys, dinner is almost ready! Can you both set the table for me?" Maria poked her head into the room and asked. Carol chuckled at her friend's horrible timing. Now that she had said something, though, Carol could smell a delicious aroma filling up the house. She really hoped it was Maria's famous gumbo dish.

Sam smiled patiently, "What did you want to ask me?"

Deciding Maria's interruption was reason enough to back out of asking Sam about the drawing, or commenting on the energy that surged between them anytime they were near each other, Carol just shook her head, "It can wait, let's go enjoy dinner!"


	7. Chapter 7

Laughter filled the dining room as the small group talked and joked with one another. Carol, Maria, Sam, Fury, and Gradar were sharing fun stories and drinking beer. One of the first things Carol noticed about Fury now that they were spending more time together was, he was more serious than the last time she saw him. Another thing she noticed; Sam seemed way livelier than she had been for the last few days.

Every now and then Carol would catch her watching her, but she could never get a clear read on what she might be thinking. She thought her facial expression was a mix between curiosity and something else. Carol found herself staring back.

"Thank you for dinner it was delicious, Maria, and thanks for letting me crash here." Sam said after the conversation started to die down. She propped her elbows up on the table and leaned forward attentively.

Maria waved her hand and made a face, "Don't worry about it, girl. Truthfully, it's nice to have company. Even if we are in the middle of catching a rogue alien group," she added comically. Carol rolled her eyes playfully at her best friend and noticed a gleam of slyness in the woman's eyes. She knew that look; Maria was planning something that Carol would probably not approve of. It was a rarity with Maria because normally it was always Carol who was coming up with terrible schemes. Maria cleared her throat and directed her attention to Sam, "So Sam… how did you and Carol meet again? I know we met briefly all those years ago, but I don't think I asked you or Carol about it."

Sam seemed startled to be asked that, Carol realized, because she stopped bringing her cup of water up to her mouth midways and set it back down awkwardly. Her eyes darted to Carol's for a moment and then she furrowed her brow, pondering her answer. She smiled gently, "We actually met on a plane. We were sitting next to each other and I was freaking out because I don't like planes, but she talked to me and kept me calm," Sam's eyes lingered on Carol a touch too long. Carol smiled fondly, that was luckily one of the memories she had recovered. She glanced at Maria to see if she noticed the strange interaction.

Maria was focused on Sam and if she noticed anything, she made no indication of it. Instead, she continued to ask Sam more questions. "Are you married?" Carol's eyes shot from Maria to Sam then back to Maria in horror. She had to admit, though. She had never really thought to ask if Sam was with anyone. Since Carol found her, they've been too busy running from the Skrull to ask her any questions. Suddenly, she felt a stab of guilt. She had been so focused on figuring out what their relationship used to be that she hadn't considered what may be going on in Sam's life now.

"No… I'm not married. I've been focusing on my career lately because I practically run the art studio myself and between that and continuing to produce art, I just don't have the time." Sam explained. Carol found herself hoping that maybe the other woman would make an exception for her, but it was useless thinking that way especially since she was too chicken to even bring it up.

"That's respectable." Everyone turned to look at Gradar, who finally joined in the conversation, albeit at an odd time. He stared at everyone for a moment, "What?"

To Carol's surprise it was Sam who acknowledged the comment, finally. The whole night she avoided speaking to the Skrull, Carol knew being around the alien that attacked her made her uncomfortable. She was holding it together well, though. "Thank you, Gradar."

Maria just shrugged his comment off and continued her, as Carol would call it, interrogation. It made her nervous that Maria was asking all these questions. Did she suspect something between Sam and Carol? Or was she being a supportive friend and asking the questions Carol had yet to have the time to ask? Either way she felt her heart beating quickly. "How long have you been teaching art?"

"For 5 years. It was after Carol disappeared…" the woman trailed off for a moment and it seemed like she was thinking of darker times. Carol felt her heart go out to her and she wished she could take away any bad feelings. Sam cleared her throat and stood while grabbing her plate, "I'll go wash these. I've always said whoever doesn't cook has to clean!" She laughed for a moment but there was no humor in it.

Carol exchanged a look with Maria and then followed Sam into the kitchen. The brunette had begun cleaning the dishes off vigorously with a sponge and her face was flushed. "Damn, I'd hate to be those plates right now…" Carol jested, and she only received a halfhearted glare. "Are you okay? You left kind of suddenly."

Sam exhaled loudly and pushed up on the counter so that her arms were locked, and her head hung. "I'm sorry, it's just hard remembering when you disappeared. It took me a long time to get over you…"

"Get over me?" Carol's eyes narrowed. Was she implying they really were together before she disappeared?

Sam acted just as surprised that she said it. "I just meant get over your death." She stumbled over her words in a very unconvincing way. Some sort of courage came over Carol like she was in the heat of battle which caused her to forget her fear of asking Sam about any of their history. "Were we together before?" She blurted out. Instantly, she regretted asking because of the horrified look Sam gave her. But why was she so scared of admitting it?

"No!" Sam denied, but her eyes told Carol a different story.

"If we weren't then why do I have these memories of you? All of them suggest we had a deeper bond… we _still do. _And that drawing I found in your art room? That wasn't just an unfinished drawing." Carol was desperately trying to pull her words out of the air and shove them back in her mouth. All the frustration she had been feeling since getting her first memory of Sam was fueling her outburst. She just wanted answers.

Sam closed her eyes and gripped the countertop hard. She kept clenching her jaw like she wanted to argue, but she didn't. So, then everything Carol was saying had to be true and that's why she wasn't opposing it. "Carol, please stop." Sam's voice was barely a whisper and it was pleading.

Carol _almost _regained control of herself, _almost. _"No, I deserve to know. It's been killing me trying to figure out all these memories and feelings that I have for you. Please, I just need to know."

"Fine! Yes, we were together!" Sam exclaimed in exasperation. "But when you disappeared out of nowhere, for the longest time, I thought you just _left _because you wanted to. You never told me where you were going, I just came home one day, and you were gone. I tried going to the base to look for you, but they shut me down every time I asked about you. They gave me no answers only more questions. For months I was angry at you for leaving, and then I found out you were in an accident! You want to know how I found out finally? From a damn newspaper! I was _crushed_, Carol. I had to mourn you all over again." Sam's face was flushed and the volume she spoke in fluctuated often. She was trying to keep the others from hearing.

Now Carol really felt like an ass. "I-I'm sorry… I didn't know."

"How could you know? You were off on another planet and you lost your memories." Sam hugged herself with her arms and awkwardly avoided Carol's gaze. Her tone wasn't bitter or accusing, she just sounded tired and it broke Carol's heart. She had clearly been dwelling on this the whole time since Carol told her what happened to her. Sam ran a hand through her hair and huffed out a sharp breath, "I think I'm just going to sleep in the basement tonight, I need to be alone right now."

Carol's heart sank and she could only stare at the spot Sam had been standing before she brushed past Carol and headed out of the kitchen. She propped herself up on the countertop and put her face in her hands. Up until now she had been so worried about whether they had been a couple or not that she didn't even think about the impact it must have had on Sam. She thought back to their first conversation in the bathroom at the art studio and how terrified Sam was when she saw Carol. Truthfully, it never occurred to her the sort of emotional pain it could cause her.

"Is everything okay? Sam stormed out of the house saying something about staying in the basement tonight," Maria walked through the room and placed a comforting hand on Carol's arm.

"Don't worry it's nothing." Carol smiled at her best friend who gave her a look that told her she wasn't convinced in the slightest. "Okay, I just don't know how to tell you this."

Maria crossed her arms, "You and Sam have a history." She stated plainly. Carol wrinkled her brow and went to ask how Maria knew that and what she meant by _history_. Because they could be thinking history means two different things. Her best friend held up her hand to stop her from saying anything, "Come on, I've known you didn't like just men since forever ago! Give me a little credit as your best friend!" Maria through her head back in laughter as Carol punched her arm.

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

"Well, I was waiting for you to tell me, but you never did!" Maria defended. "It's not a big deal to me, though. I mean you have _superpowers _so you liking Sam is not as big of a surprise as that. Plus, I had my suspicions ever since you brought Sam to the bar that night years ago. You guys had crazy chemistry and you wouldn't stop talking about her for a few days after the party. I'll admit I assumed it was just a brief fling, though."

A huge relief washed over Carol; she was glad Maria figured it out on her own that way it wouldn't have been as shocking when she told her that she liked Sam. Maria's eyes softened which made Carol break finally. "God, I have all these feelings for her and at first they confused me. This random person started showing up in my memories and every time I saw her my stomach got butterflies… and I missed her, this complete stranger as far as I knew." Carol couldn't keep her voice from cracking a bit, it felt good to finally tell Maria exactly how she felt. "She finally admitted to me that we were together before the crash and… I realized I've been so selfish this whole time. I was so focused on knowing the truth that I didn't consider what it was doing to her. She probably just wishes I never showed up at the art studio that day."

Maria gave her a sympathetic look, "I'm sure she doesn't think that. Speaking from personal experience, I know how strange it was to see you again, but no amount of strangeness could have stopped me from being overjoyed that you were alive. Granted, as an alien named Vers, but alive nonetheless." The two women laughed for a moment at the last part. "Just give her time. I think these things have a way of working themselves out."

A smile touched Carol's lips and another wave of relief washed over her, she loved how supportive Maria was being about all of this. "You're probably right," she sighed.

"Of course, I am! As I'm sure you've remembered I'm always right, about everything." Maria's eyebrows shot up in amusement, she was unable to keep a straight face before she broke out into a smile along with Carol who just shot her an unconvinced glare.

The kitchen doors opened yet again and in walked Fury, he glanced at the two women sternly for a moment. "Sorry to interrupt," he said, "but I've got to get a move on. Got an official summons from my superiors, so that should be fun. Don't worry, I'll keep our little operation under their radar for as long as I can."

"Thanks, Fury. Keep us updated if anything happens that we should know about." Carol bumped his arm with her elbow in an attempt to show affection for the older man. He barely cracked a smile, but she could see in his eye that he didn't mind the display.

He turned to Maria and gave her a quick smile, "The dinner was good as usual, Maria. Thank you."

Maria waved her hand in dismissal and bumped his fist with hers. "You're welcome anytime, Fury. Don't be a stranger!"

With that, the trio headed for the front door to see Fury out and for Maria to take Monica to bed, much to the younger girl's dismay. When they entered the living room area, Gradar was fluffing up a pillow and setting blankets down on the couch while Monica offered for him to sleep with one of her stuffed animals. He was trying his best to politely decline, but he ended up agreeing to keep one by the couch in case he got lonely. Maria fetched Monica after that, "Carol you can have Monica's room for the night. I'll set out some bigger blankets for you."

Carol expressed her gratitude and bid Fury one last farewell before he got in his car and pulled off. For a moment she stood on the front porch and debated going to the basement and talking to Sam, but she knew Sam wanted her space for right now so she decided against it. Back inside, Gradar was settling on the couch.

"The woman, Sam, insisted I stay on the couch instead that way she could go to the basement."

Carol wasn't sure if he thought she had a problem with him being in the house, so she wanted to ease his mind a little. "Oh, yeah, it's alright. I'm just glad you're going to help us. I still can't believe Roan wants to take over Earth with just a handful of your people."

Gradar scoffed, "He knows it's a losing battle, but what does he have to lose now? His family is gone, most of our people left, all he has is our small group. But he's fed them lies about what really happened a year ago, so they are loyal to him and believe he's doing the best thing for them. Once I tell the truth of last year and where our people have been this whole time, I know most of them will come around to our side."

Carol nodded, "I hope so. You all have suffered enough, and Earth won't be kind when they realize what Roan is trying to do. This will have to work if you want to see your family again."

A brief pause of understanding passed between them. Gradar must have known she only wanted to help, and Carol knew he was going to assist them as much as he could. "Well, goodnight." Carol finally said and retreated up the stairs to Monica's room. It took her a few moments to shut her mind off Sam, but finally she drifted to sleep.

_Sam's easy, contagious laugh found its way to Carol's ears as she walked down the hallway of Sam's apartment building. She had just said something that made Sam burst into a fit of laughter, and she couldn't help herself from joining in too. They were just getting back to Sam's apartment after grabbing dinner together. It was a fancy restaurant Carol suggested and then when they got there the food turned out to be _too _fancy and it wasn't even that great. Carol had been trying to make jokes about it to make herself feel less guilty for dragging Sam to a subpar dinner. Sam found it hilarious. _

_The brunette fiddled with her keys for a moment when they stood at the door, she locked eyes with Carol for a moment and the blonde swore they were a bit darker than they normally were. The doorknob clicked open. _

_The moment they stepped inside Sam tossed her keys in a bowl on a small table by the door. Carol followed as the slightly smaller woman went into the kitchen and grabbed two beers, offering one to Carol. "So, Danvers…" Sam started with a hint of mischief in her eyes. "Do you have anything else planned for the night?" _

_The look in Sam's eyes was doing something strange to Carol. The other woman wanted something. "I'm not sure, do I have plans?" Carol asked in her own flirtatious way. It made Sam smile. _

_Sam walked around the island counter and stood very, very close to Carol, her hips swaying ever so slightly as she walked. "Yes, I think you do." There was a tense feeling in the air for a while until Sam spoke again, "You're about to start getting your ass kicked in Pac-man." _

_Confusion must have riddled Carol's face because Sam chuckled and pointed towards the small box-like TV set up in front of her couch. Underneath the stand that the TV was on, was a box with some cords reaching up to the tiny TV. Next to it, there was an arcade style control stick. It was the newest gaming system that allowed anyone to play Pac-man at home on TV. No arcade necessary, as the ad said. "You actually bought it?" She remembered Sam showing interest in the system and Carol had geeked out at the ad a while back too, but they were expensive to own. In a lot of ways, it was cheaper to just go to an arcade. _

_Sam grabbed her hand and led her to the couch while she fiddled with the machine, "Well, it's an investment! And I know you really wanted to try one." _

_A blush creeps up on Sam's face as she says it, and Carol feels an overwhelming sense of affection threatening to burst from her chest. She grins. "Is this your way of getting me here more often? You know if you wanted to see me more you didn't need to buy an expensive game!" She quips and has a sense of accomplishment when Sam's blush deepens. _

"_Oh shut up!" The woman says while turning everything on. "Just get ready to be beaten!" _

"_Ha! Come on, you never beat my high scores!" Carol jabs teasingly._

_Sam glared and handed her the control stick. "I blame your aircraft experience on it. You're basically cheating because you handle a control stick for a living!" _

_Carol makes an indignant sound but can't help her lips turning upwards into a smile. She had to admit that _was _one of the reasons she was so good at arcade games. She'd never admit it out loud, though._

_Once the game was set up, the tiny screen showed the logo for Pac-man. The whole time they played they switched turns. First Carol went and then Sam. Each time they would try to distract each other by shielding their eyes from the screen or grabbing the control stick to throw the other person off. When Carol was very close to getting a very high score, Sam suddenly tackled her wrapping her arms around the blonde's shoulders and trying desperately to knock her sideways on the couch. They could barely breathe from laughing too much. _

"_Hey! That's totally not fair!" Carol said in between breaths. When they settled down, they both realized sheepishly that they were extremely close with Sam almost laying on top of her. Her cheeks felt hot thinking about how much she liked Sam being this close. _

_The smaller woman wrapped her hand around the back of Carol's neck and, with a blush and searching eyes, hovered her lips just above hers. She was asking permission, Carol realized after a moment of no movement. When Carol finally closed the gap between them, without missing a beat, Sam began kissing her back. The kiss was tentative at first, but after a moment of exploring each other's mouths, they both deepened the kiss and it became hungry. Carol's arms snaked around Sam's waist pulling her even closer. She let out a surprised noise when Sam gently tugged at her lower lip with her teeth. The move sparked a desire deep within her. _

_She found herself pushing up on Sam making her sit up, and then lowering herself so that she was flush against Sam. She wasn't even quite sure how she was managing to move like an actual human and not some clumsy penguin because her brain was a pile a mush at the softness of Sam's touch. _

_They broke apart for a moment and stared into each other's eyes, breathing loudly. "What are we doing?" Sam breathed, but nothing about her body was suggesting she wanted to stop. This moment had been hinted at quite a bit in their friendship and Carol knew she had feelings for Sam, but she had been reluctant to share that with anyone. _

_She smiled and leaned forward to kiss Sam again, "I've wanted to do that for a long time." She admits. At first, she thought Sam would shy away, but a smile dances on her lips. She pulls Carol back into her for another kiss. _

"_Me too." _

Carol woke suddenly from her slumber, she glanced at the Hello Kitty clock on the table by Monica's bed. It was 3:56 AM. She hugged the blankets to her chest and smiled. The dream, or rather memory, was showing the first time they ever kissed. She could recall that was when they officially started going on dates and then a month later Carol asked Sam to be her girlfriend. She could also recall how hesitant Sam was after the first few dates. She didn't want to ruin their friendship if anything happened between them.

"_Don't we owe it to ourselves to try?" _Carol remembered saying to ease the worrying woman.

Not long after that, they became serious about being together. Carol still couldn't remember everything, but she was sure it would slowly come back to her.

Now she stared at the ceiling, an aching in her chest wanted her to go see Sam right now and tell her all the things she remembered. _Sam needs space. Sam needs space. _She kept repeating to herself, trying to dissuade her from doing anything rash. It was about Sam now, whatever she needed. Finally, her eyes started to flutter shut again and she let sleep take her.

The next morning Carol woke with excitement. They were going to help the Skrull, she could reunite them with their family's soon if all went according to plan, and she was going to see Sam. Hopefully, having a night to herself cooled the brunette off and they could talk about things. Maybe they could even discuss what it meant for them going forward. Carol knew it was still too soon to jump back into a relationship like nothing ever happened, but with time, maybe they could try things out again. A fresh start.

She hopped down the stairs ready to get started, when she noticed that Gradar was no longer on the couch and the house was strangely quiet. She knew Monica and Maria would still be asleep this early, the sun was barely rising, but she thought _someone _would be up and about by now other than herself. And where was Gradar? She poked her head in the kitchen and found it empty. She did this with a few more rooms in the house and found the same result. _He didn't leave already, did he? _For a moment, panic sank in and she rushed out of the house.

She sighed in relief. Gradar was outside in a trance-like state. His arms open wide as if waiting for an embrace and he muttered something under his breath. She recognized it as a routine the Skrull sometimes did at the start of the day. "Good morning," Gradar said with his eyes still closed and his head pointed toward the sky.

"Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt I'm just going to check on Sam." Carol said apologetically for barging out of the house loudly. She didn't wait for Gradar's response before she made her way to the basement. Once inside and down the stairs she halted, Sam wasn't asleep. In fact, she wasn't even there. The blankets originally left for Gradar were folded neatly, but Sam was nowhere to be found. Carol frowned and sought out Gradar again. "Hey, have you seen Sam this morning?"

Gradar turned to her with confusion written all over his face. "No, I assumed she would still be asleep. Why?"

"She's not in the basement…"

"Perhaps she went inside for something?" Gradar offered. Though, Carol could see the doubt on his face.

She nodded, but she knew she just looked through most of the house for him and never saw Sam. Checking again couldn't hurt, though, she decided.

"Sam?" She called walking back into the house. No answer. She called again as she checked different rooms. To no avail. Panic started to seep through while she searched the house again. This time she woke Maria up, but her best friend said she hadn't seen Sam since she stormed off last night.

After recruiting everyone to help her search, they all came to the same conclusion-

Sam was gone.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**

I was asked who portrays Sam, and I've gotta say its Kathleen Munroe that I picture! She's not an exact match, though, because I did change the eye color in the story. That's just who I picture, but it's really up to all of you how you want to picture her.

Besides that, I changed up my writing style by having the narrative set in the present tense, so I'd love feedback if you guys prefer to read it this way or how the other chapters are written. It's probably bad writing for me to switch it up in the middle of the story, but screw it I did it anyways!

* * *

"When did she leave? Did she even stay here last night? Where could she have gone?! It's not safe for her to be wandering around- Roan had Gradar use her against me, he knows what she looks like! She-"

"Carol! Panicking is going to do no good, okay? I'm sure she just… went for a morning run." Maria suggests and tries to place her hands on Carol's shoulder to get her to stop pacing. "Maybe there's footprints?"

Carol shakes her head rapidly, "I don't think that is a real thing, that's only in movies people pick up a trail of footprints. Besides I flew around the area, I would've seen her if she went for a run. Sam doesn't even like running!" She says suddenly and surprises herself at the statement. She is not entirely sure how she knows that tidbit of information, but she does.

"Even if she had gone for a run, I would have seen her. I've been outside since before the sun rose." Gradar adds helpfully. Carol points a finger at him and raises her eyebrows at Maria in a "see" sort of way. Maria rolls her eyes and throws her hands up in defeat. Carol is about to say something when Gradar begins to walk to the door, "I will look for footprints outside. I was quite adept at tracking in the past. Uh, granted, tracking animals but it's still the same principle."

With a heavy sigh, Carol reluctantly nods her agreement, at this point she is running out of options, so she follows Gradar outside. It has been four hours since they figured out Sam was gone, and with each passing minute her worry grows stronger. She already flew around the area at least twice and had Maria call Sam's job at the art studio. The next place Carol plans to go check was Sam's apartment, if Gradar does not find any footprints, which she highly doubts he will. Still, it will not hurt to try.

Gradar kneels down near the entrance to the basement. The first thing Carol notices, there is quite a few footprints set in the dirt, but everyone _was _in and out of the basement all day yesterday so that did not mean much. There are multiple sets going in different directions from the basement. Most go back to the house while some just head off to the driveway. The more peculiar ones that are set apart go away from the house and driveway, near the backyard, and finally to the tree line right before the small wooded area behind Maria's house. Gradar and Carol look at each other with unease and follow the prints.

"It seems that perhaps Sam went this way. The foot size seems small enough for a woman. Yes, here, there is another set of prints," Gradar points to a pair of bigger prints in the ground, they circle Sam's, and then both pairs end at the tree line. "These do look relatively fresh; it appears Sam was not alone. She must have walked here last night when we thought she went to sleep."

Carol's heart freezes cold in her chest and her stomach drops uncomfortably, "Does that mean… was she taken? Did she leave with someone?"

Gradar shakes his head and he examines the footprints further, touching his fingertips to the ground and squinting his eyes. "I think there was a struggle. See the way this one extends backwards? That's telltale signs of being dragged or of a struggle at the very least."

Suddenly, Carol feels sick to her stomach. "It's Roan, isn't it?"

Gradar sighs, "I don't know for sure but… let's go back inside for a moment."

Carol holds back her anger at the situation knowing she will likely lash out at the closest person to her if they say the wrong thing. The anger is directed more at Gradar for being so calm, but she knows he is trying to help. She nods stiffly and marches back into the house where Maria is calling her parents to come get Monica from all the chaos. She is likely worried that she will have to do more "space mission" things. Although she leaves that part out while speaking with her parents, but Carol knows her best friend well.

"Change of plans. We're going to bargain with Roan. You," Carol points at Gradar before returning her hands to her hips. "We will trade you for Sam. It's the only way to guarantee she stays safe, and Roan probably already believes we hold you hostage."

Gradar holds his hands up trying to slow Carol down from speaking too quickly. "Wait, we don't even know if Roan has taken Sam."

"Who else could have?" Carol bites back.

"Alright, alright… but I still think we need to proceed with our original plan. Then, I can find out if he indeed has Sam and contact you. It's less dangerous for everyone that way. I can still get a read on Roan's morale and see who all will be willing to turn on him should it come to that."

Carol crosses her arms in aggravation, "Or, I could just storm the place and get Sam back right now."

"And then you would start a war with Roan that you wouldn't be able to fix! If you go there and provoke them, without knowing for sure that Sam is even there, you will shatter whatever chance of Roan standing down we have." Gradar shouts, he clearly was trying to get her to see reason. Part of her knows it's a bad idea to storm in and look for Sam, but right now she cannot think rationally. All she wants is for Sam to walk through the doors and flash her dazzling smile at her. _Safely._

She knows he is right, though. She closes her eyes in defeat and runs a hand through her hair. "You're right… just, please hurry. The second you learn anything I want to know, just radio through my comms whenever you have the chance." Carol pauses for a moment when Gradar starts to leave. Then she grabs him by the arm, "If I haven't heard from you by the end of the day tomorrow, I'm coming in and dealing with Roan however I need to." At first, she thinks Gradar will protest by the look in his eyes, but eventually he nods and leaves the house.

It's not until hours after he's gone that Carol deflates into Maria's couch and bounces her leg impatiently. She's been pacing the house nonstop, thinking. She knows she could easily storm in and find Sam; it would be as simple as breathing for her, but she has to think about all the Skrull working for Roan. They aren't the enemy. And she would rather settle things without violence for their sake. "Patience was never your strong suit." Maria's voice carries across the room as she's walking to the couch with a plate of breakfast in hand.

Carol eyes it, the contents consisting of two pieces of triangle cut toast and half the plate's worth of eggs. She isn't particularly hungry, but she appreciates the work Maria put in to make breakfast for her, so she accepts the plate. "After last night… I don't want things to be on a bad note between Sam and me. And if Roan has her… god, she must be terrified." Carol admits whilst stuffing the toast in her mouth despite being sick to her stomach with worry.

Maria gives her a grimace, "Maybe he doesn't have her? We don't know for sure yet. Is there anywhere she might have gone if she just left because she was upset?"

Carol racks her brain, but only one image keeps popping up. It is an image of Sam drawing somewhere scenic.

_Escaping was one of Sam's many talents, or habits depending on how one looked at it. Carol realized this shortly into their newly found romantic relationship. When something bothered the other woman, she tended to just disappear for a few hours to clear her head. Specifically disappearing to one spot in the park just a few miles away from where Sam was attending an art school. _

_It was in the middle of a clearing near a stream of water where Carol finally found Sam after a couple hours of looking. It was still midday, so the sun was streaming rays through the treetops. As for her girlfriend, she was hunched over her sketchbook and her arm moved rapidly across the paper. She was wearing jeans and a button-down white shirt with a beige cardigan draped over her shoulders. Her legs were crossed beneath her and she sat on top of a blue and green blanket. _

_Carol tried her best not to alarm the woman when she approached, so she called out her name softly, but her girlfriend was so focused on the paper in front of her that she didn't hear her. "Sam?" This time she said it a little louder and put her hand on Sam's shoulder. _

_Sam jumped about a foot and the pencil in her hand slid across the paper making a long streak right down the middle. She clasped her chest and breathed, "Jesus, Carol! You scared the shit out of me!"_

"_I called you, but you didn't answer!" Carol defended. When she got a better look at Sam, she noticed how tired and defeated she looked. Her eyes were red, and her makeup was slightly smeared under her eyes. "Hey… what's wrong?" _

_At first, Sam turned her head back to view the stream of water she had been sketching, but Carol placed herself between her and the view by sitting with her legs crossed right in front of her girlfriend. She stared intently and watched as Sam sighed loudly, knowing full well she would pester her until she confessed why she was upset. "The painting I spent weeks on, the one I was presenting today at the advanced student showcase… it completely bombed. My instructor said it lacked 'insight and thoughtfulness' and it was, 'void of emotion' which is the worst critique I think I've ever gotten." _

"_What?! But it was so good! And you worked so hard on it, how could he just put it down so easily?" Now Carol was fuming, Sam's instructor clearly didn't know good art when he saw it. _

_Sam laughed bitterly, "I don't know, maybe he's right… I haven't felt like myself recently with painting. And I only worked so hard on that one because I couldn't find the inspiration for it." Carol's heart broke at the face Sam made when she admitted how she really felt. She looked totally at a loss. In all the time Carol had known Sam, she had never once expressed anything like this before. Art was her passion through and through, so for her to have any issues with it would be something she would have a hard time dealing with. _

_Carol bumped her forehead against Sam's and stayed like that for a moment, "Is there anything I can do to help?" _

_Sam smiled and placed her hands on Carol's face pulling her in for a kiss. They returned to just having their foreheads together and enjoying the closeness of the other. Finally, Sam pulled away, "I'm sure it's just a temporary thing, I'll get my inspiration back soon I should think." _

"_Hmm, are you _sure _there's nothing I can do? Throw eggs on your instructor's car? Old fashioned TPing his house?" Carol tried to hide her sly smile as she pulled Sam closer to her until her girlfriend was practically straddling her. She took in the scent of her shirt, it always smelled of Sam's flowery perfume, and smiled brightly when Sam giggled at the suggestion in her voice. _

With a frown, Carol stands up to pace the room with her index and thumb on her chin in thought. When Sam was upset, she almost always found a quiet place to clear her head. That was probably why she went outside after their argument. Well, argument is not the right word more like after Carol was a complete ass. That doesn't explain where Sam was now, though, only why she went outside in the first place. Carol knows she checked the area as best as possible and there were no signs of Sam going past the tree line. She sighs and throws her hands up in defeat, "I don't know! The only explanation is that Roan took her, I can just feel it in my gut, Maria."

"Okay-" she held up her hands, "let's say he does have her. Until we hear from Gradar, we don't know where she's even being held. And yes, you have serious superpowers and it probably wouldn't take you long to find her but still, the second he knows you're there, he'll hurt Sam and you know it."

Of course, she knows her best friend is right, but it still doesn't make her feel any better about the situation. Even with the tracker she put on Gradar, it will not tell her exactly where Sam is being held. She leans against the wall crossing her arms across her stomach. She has a sinking feeling from worry. She really cannot remember the last time she felt like this. Even with crash landing on Earth last year, she never truly felt _worried _about anything. Other than perhaps when she was slowly getting her memories back.

"I know, I've never been good at sitting around waiting."

Maria laughs, "Really? You? Carol, that is no secret! You've been that way for as long as I can remember."

It takes a lot for Carol to give Maria her best scowl, but it doesn't last for long before the corners of her mouth curl upward. "Whatever," she grumbles out before continuing. "Well, you were right about one thing, I need something to do while we wait on Gradar. I'm going to head over to Sam's apartment just to make sure she isn't there."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Maria asks.

"No, I think someone needs to be here in case Fury comes back so we can fill him in on what's going on. Actually, I'm surprised we haven't heard from him yet." She shakes her head and gives Maria a wave as she's walking out the door already glowing and hovering from her powers.

Maria runs after her, "Wait! Why do I have to be the one to talk to Fury?!"

Carol just grins, "I'll be back soon!" She leaves her best friend standing on her porch looking dumbfounded with her mouth open in a silent argument.

It doesn't take long for Carol to arrive at Sam's apartment, she feels bad about leaving Maria alone at the house but being cooped up was making her go crazy. Plus, Maria and Fury got along great so if he shows up it will be better for him to talk to Maria instead of talking to a stressed-out Carol.

At the apartment, she finds the door locked and decides to sort of _bend _the lock off. She'll fix it later for Sam. When she enters, she sees it's almost exactly the way it looked when she visited the first time, although now it appears to be missing Sam's cat. Her friend must have gotten the cat to look after it while Sam is away. Unsurprisingly, Sam is nowhere in her apartment which only further feeds the worry gnawing in her stomach. She plops down on Sam's bed and tries not to think about all the horrible things Roan could be doing to her.

She sighs heavily and something catches her eye just on the nightstand next to the bed. The drawer is half open and there's something sticking out of it. She knows she shouldn't pry, and that this is a huge violation of Sam's privacy, but curiosity gets the better of her. Upon further examination, she can clearly see the object is the backside of a picture frame. She picks it up and turns it around, in the frame there is a photo of Sam and herself. She is standing behind Sam with her arms wrapped around her and her chin is resting on the shoulder of the slightly shorter woman. The picture looks like it was taken in the middle of Sam laughing.

Carol runs her hand along the frame and smiles lightly. Vaguely, she wonders why it was stuffed away in this drawer but the communicator on her wrist beeps loudly interrupting her thoughts. Her heart jumps at the sudden noise in the quiet apartment, she pulls up the comms. It must be Gradar checking in, or at least she hopes it is. Instead, though, it is a Skrull she doesn't recognize who is on the other end. His face is harsher than Gradar's, it is riddled with scars and marks.

"Vers, I presume." He says in a typical bad-guy voice.

"That's not who I am anymore. Why don't you tell me who _you are, _though?" She asks, although she has a feeling, she already knows the answer.

He chuckles, "Gradar mentioned you were going by the human name Carol Danvers now. Don't make me laugh. You're a Kree, you only know how to destroy. But I am Roan, and I need to thank you for willingly sending us the traitor, I was expecting to have to trade your friend for him but you've made this _so _much easier. Now I have them both and you no longer have any leverage against me."

Carol's blood boils, she clenches her jaw tightly to keep herself from appearing at all fazed by his words. She inhales sharply before answering, "What have you done with Gradar and Sam?"

"Don't worry they are… _safe_. The moment Gradar arrived I knew he was a traitor, there is no way someone like you would ever let him escape with his life and Gradar is not a… particularly skilled fighter so there is no way he could escape on his own. He spouted nonsense about letting _you _help us. As for the girl, she was out wandering alone so one of my men grabbed her to use her as leverage."

"You don't have to do this. We don't need to be enemies- your people are waiting for you to join them on Dara!" Carol pleads. She knows it's a long shot but perhaps Roan will see reason.

He just laughs bitterly, and the sound sets Carol very much on edge by the sheer unpleasantness. "And be ruled by _Talos_? Ha! Too long have the Skrull lived as refugees on borrowed planets! Talos would see us continue to hide and barely survive on scraps, but _I _plan to take _everything _the Skrull could ever want! We won't have to build ourselves from scrap, we will live as superior beings!"

"By taking over Earth with a handful of Skrull? You can't win this, Roan."

"Humans are weak, Carol. They're almost primitive compared to other species out there! Even with my small group of men, I can infiltrate the most important areas of government and destroy them from the inside. I can create chaos until they destroy themselves. True, it could take years, but it can be done, and I intend to do it!" At this point, Carol thinks Roan sounds like a real madman. He's talking about world domination like it would be _easy_. Humans are not as weak as Roan makes them out to be either, even Carol had once been human after all. She knows firsthand that humans never give up, they always stand back up when they get knocked down. Whatever Roan has planned won't work.

The problem now is he still holds Sam and Gradar captive. Not to mention, the other Skrull who Carol hopes sees through his delusions by now. She hopes Gradar was at least able to sway some of them. As for another problem, she still has no idea _why _Roan is contacting her.

"So, then what do you want from me?"


End file.
